The Time of Unknown
by Allithea
Summary: Splinter is sick with an unknown illness. The Purple Dragons have a new mysterious weapon. Leo doesn't know where he fits, Raph, post Nightwatcher,is floundering, Don is overworked, and Mike has to grow up or risk losing everything. Set post movie 4.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This takes place after the last movie, but with the characters more along the lines of 2003 cartoon. (Leo and Raph are okay in the movie, but I didn't like Don or Mike) The story picks up a month or two after the movie ends. This is a brother fic... trying to see the world from all of their perspectives, accurately.  
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* * *

_The afternoon had run it's course. Faint shimmers of sunlight flowed into the windows of the garage, shining on a motorcycle, it's engine scattered all over a white sheet in the center of the floor.

Don stood up from his crouch and stared at Raph across the frame of the Shell Cycle. "No way," Don said annoyed. "I'm not doing that, now or ever."

Raph looked somewhere between crestfallen and pissed. "Why not? This new carburetor will get me at least 20 more miles per hour top speed. If we we're chasing someone down, or trying to get away from something, that could mean our lives."

Don sighed. "The top speed is already 90 miles an hour. You really think 110 is going to make that much of a difference?"

"Yeah," Raph retorted. "I do."

"Well I don't," Don snapped back. "Not enough of a difference to make all the other changes we'd need to make."

"We don't need to do anything else, brainac. Just take the old one out and put the new one in."

"You really think it's that simple?"

"It is that simple," Raph said with a look of total confidence.

Don shook his pounding head and felt resentment well up in his stomach. It was always the same. Different equipment, different brothers, different situations, but it all came back to the same problem. They didn't … or couldn't… understand how one thing affected another.

When Don didn't respond, Raph added, "Every so often, someone else has a good idea, even if you didn't think of it first."

"Give it up," Don said with a groan. "If it were a legitimately good idea, I wouldn't care who came up with it. This just isn't a good idea."

"Says you," Raph said, his hands now clenched into fists.

"No, says the specifications on the other components. The brakes are already underrated. At top speed it already takes over five seconds to stop. Add another 20 mph, and we're talking another couple of seconds."

"Two seconds?" Raph said, "Two seconds doesn't matter."

"It does if you want to stay alive," Don shot back.

Raph circled around the bike to where Don was standing. Even in the dim light of the garage, Don could tell his brother was not just angry, he was dangerous angry. Raph's face was filled with contempt. His arms were crossed in front of him. It was at times like these, Don wished he could crack a decent joke like Mikey. It would make things so much easier.

"I'm tired of you telling me what to do with my bike," Raph spat at him.

Raph was trying to bait him, but Don was not Leo. And besides, in this case, Don had back-up.

"Look, Raph, I'm not the one who made up the rules."

Don broke eye contact with his brother and walked over to the side of the shop. He pulled out a battered copy of a motorcycle maintenance book. With a quick flip, he sent the book over in Raph's direction. Raph caught it, turning it over in his hands.

"I can't reinvent the laws of physics," Don said, walking back over. "Read that, the section about brakes, and then check out the other systems affected by the carburetor . Then maybe you'll see where I'm coming from."

Raph gave him an evil stare over the book, but Don could tell he was interested. Just as Raph opened the book to check out the first page, the elevator doors opened. Leo got out, and gave them a stare that turned Don's blood cold.

"What did you do this time?" Don asked Raph, looking between them.

"Nothing. I've been with you all afternoon," Raph said. "Not everything is my fault."

"But it's a good bet," Don replied, throwing up a block as Raph's irritated punch came at his stomach.

Leo stood between them looking more annoyed than Don had seen him in years, but then again, he hadn't seen him much in two years either.

"Why didn't you tell me that Master Splinter was sick?" Leo asked, looking at Don.

"Told you it wasn't my fault," Raph said, smirking.

"It's not mine either," Don said, turning to look at Leo.

Leo said, "He told me to come talk to you about it, so you obviously knew and you didn't tell me."

Don sighed in exasperation, "Don't get mad at me. As stupid as this sounds, I didn't know that you didn't know. I know, Mike knows."

"Master Splinter is sick?" Raph asked, dropping the book onto the seat of the motorcycle.

Two sets of eyes -- one angry, one curious -- burned into Don's face. It made his head pound.. "Guys, what… are you blind? He's been down for over a week now. Mike's been making him Miso soup. Have we ever eaten that for the heck of it? April brought by some antibiotics a few days ago. I put in vaporizer in his room. It's not like we've been keeping it from you."

"What's wrong with him?" Leo asked, leaning up against the workbench. "He told me you'd explain."

Don shifted from foot to foot, "Well, I don't know what's wrong exactly. He has a low fever and a cough. It could be a bunch of different things, but it's probably just a cold. Hopefully he'll get better here in a few days."

"The question is… why didn't you tell us about it?" Leo said, walking over so that he was standing shoulder to shoulder with Raph.

Don thought that was funny, especially the "us" part of the statement. Leo was going to Raph like Raph would support him. He had been gone too long. "No Leo," Don said, "the real question is… why didn't you notice?" He sighed and then glanced at the clock on the wall. "Speaking of that, I should check on him before I log in for work tonight."

"I thought you were off," Raph said looking confused. "Weren't you and Mikey heading to that movie tonight?"

"Well, we were," Don admitted, "But I didn't have the cash to pay April for the medicines for Master Splinter, so I picked up a couple of extra shifts. What else could I do?"

"Asked us," Leo said annoyed.

Don almost laughed aloud. But since Leo obviously hadn't readjusted to life back at home, he went along with him. "Okay," Don said, "Can either of you give me $60 for Splinter's medicine."

"60 dollars," Leo said, his eyes getting wide.

"That's robbery," Raph said.

"Yeah… that's life," Don said flatly. "So which one of you has $60?"

His brothers stared at each other for a moment and then both looked at their own feet. Don sighed, but he hadn't expected them to have any money anyway. He started to walk away and then he turned back to face Leo. "I know that you want us to practice more now that you're back, but I won't be in practice in the morning. Sorry."

"Why not," Leo asked looking sour.

"I have to work," Don replied already feeling his shoulders tense at the thought of it.

"But you're working tonight." Raph said.

"Yeah, I'm pulling a double shift. I start tonight at 10 and won't be done until 2 tomorrow afternoon. Oh, and Raph… try not to be so loud when you come in. If you're hurt, fine, I'll take a break to patch you up, but otherwise…"

Raph shrugged a noncommittal agreement. "Casey and I are just going to watch the game. Shouldn't hurt myself too bad."

Don cracked a smile and headed to the elevator.

* * *

Leo turned to look at his red masked brother. "I'm not sure whether I feel guilty or angry." And he didn't. Leo watched Don as he got into the elevator, Don's shoulders were hunched over like the world was crushing him to death. Why hadn't he noticed that since he'd been back.

"Welcome to the club. He's been pulling this crap on me for the last 2 years. I thought maybe since you were back, he'd lighten up some. But that ain't happening. If anything he's getting worse."

"Did you notice that Splinter was sick?" Leo asked, almost dreading the reply.

"No, but it's not serious. If it were, Donny would have told me. He knows I wouldn't have known. Last time when Splinter got sick, he told me about it. I helped him and Mikey take care of Splinter."

"What was wrong with Splinter then?" Leo asked, feeling a hard pit in his stomach. How much didn't he know about the last 2 years?

"Ah… pneumonia, I think," Raph said. "Nasty coughing, he could hardly breathe. Donny didn't say it, but he was nervous. He would still be awake with Splinter when I would… ah… get back."

Raph shot him a nervous glance, but Leo just sighed. "I thought when I got here that everything would be like it was."

Raph laughed, a dark hissing noise that sounded more like a curse than mirth. "So did we. But then we thought you were dead. Now that you're alive, I don't know if any of us knows what to do with you."

Leo sighed. He didn't really know what to do with himself. He had come to peace with all of them since his return. It wasn't like any of them were still angry or hurt by his long absence. But still, he felt that his place in the family had changed. When he left, he was the leader, the oldest brother, the one that Splinter leaned on for help, the brother Donny confided in, the one Raph fought with, the one Mike looked up too.

As far as anyone knew, Leo was the oldest… but for the rest of it? After Leo had been back a couple of weeks, Splinter had started asking Donatello to do the things he had been asking Leo to do. Leo wasn't sure who Don talked too -- Mikey probably -- but it wasn't him. Raph was more likely to fight with Don than himself, and if Mikey looked up to anyone, it was Raph.

It was almost like Raph and Don had taken his very nature, the things about himself he was most proud of, cut them down the center and each took half of his personality. Not only did it not suit either of them, they didn't seem willing to give it back. Which, reflecting back, was probably part of the reason why he didn't want to come back to begin with.

When Leo didn't answer Raph continued, "Everything changes, Leo. Even if you'd stayed here, things would still be different. Don would have started supporting us because that's who he is. Mike and Don are tight these days, but they always kinda were. So Mike probably would have tried to help Don anyways. I can't do the crap they can do… never could… So me busting heads with Casey is what I do, and probably what I would have done anyway."

Leo sighed, "I know things change. I just wish they'd change back…"

"Why?" Raph said with a half laugh. "Things aren't so bad for you. With Donny workin, we always got good food on the table. You have all the free time you could want, you don't need to work, and everyone is so happy you're alive, no one gives you any crap. What more do you want?"

Leo shrugged. Raph pulled the book from off the motorcycle and started flipping through it. Raph continued, "I still get crap though… I think that's my job… to get crap. But I will prove to that little dork that my ideas about my bike are right. I don't care what he says. I'll prove him wrong."

Leo shrugged again, clearly seeing the fight in his minds eye. Only problem was that it was Don and Raph fighting, not he and Raph. And somehow, that was discouraging.

Raph settled down to his book, studying the first page with more intensity than Leo could ever remember him showing about anything in print. For a half second, Raph looked like the way Don used to look, before he left. He hadn't seen Don crack a book in ages.

Leo sighed and made his way back to the elevator. After descending, and without realizing, he wound up at the door of Splinter's room. Don was crouched by his bed, gently stroking the fur of his father's forehead. Mike stood behind Don, looking worried.

After a long moment, Don stood up, picked up a notebook by the bedside, and jotted a few notes down in it.

"How is he?" Mike asked after Don had finished.

Don shrugged. "I don't know. About the same. His fever is down, so that's good, but it's not gone. It still could just be a viral infection, which could take another 7 days to run it's course. But I'm glad we have the antibiotics."

With that last statement, Leo's brothers exchanged a look that Leo couldn't place. They looked resigned and sad, but in a good way.

"Yeah, me too," Mike said, sounding defeated.

"I'm sorry Mikey," Don said. "I was looking forward to the movie too. I'll see if I can find a pirated version online."

"It'll probably bounce up and down," Mike said, picking up some of the dishes around Splinter.

"Probably," Don agreed and together they turned toward the door.

"Hey, Leo," Mike said with enthusiasm, when he saw him. "Don and me were just going to eat something. I've got a couple pounds of burger, some onions, some swiss… you want my famous sautéed onion burgers."

"You should take him up on it," Don said with a grin. "Those burgers are fantastic. When he offered me dinner, all I got was leftover Miso soup."

"That's all you are getting dude," Mike said with a smile. "Leo gets burgers… you get Miso soup."

"That's not fair," Don said.

"We can't have you getting sick," Mike said with a grin. "Who would pay the bills?"

"You would," Don said, pulling Mikey into a headlock.

Mike squirmed out of Don's hold and the three of them made their way into the kitchen. As Mikey pulled stuff out the refrigerator, Don and Leo both sat down at the table.

"So are you worried about Splinter," Leo asked Don.

"He's always worried," Mike chimed in from across the room.

Don looked over and Mike and then back to Leo. He gave a wry smile. "Mikey is more right than I'd like to admit. But he's not in immediate danger. We just have to wait and see. I though you were kidding…" Don said to Mike as he placed a bowl of Miso Soup in front of him.

"If you can tell me -- without lying -- that you are feeling okay, then I'll let you out of the soup." Mike said, giving Don a hard stare.

"Can I at least have a burger, after I eat the soup?" Don asked with a small smile.

"Sure... Just eat the soup."

"Are you sick?" Leo asked Don, feeling a hard pit in his stomach again. Did two years away make him so blind that he didn't realize when two of his family members were ill?

"No," Don said, dipping his spoon into the bowl and ladling out some broth.

"But if you felt like he does right now," Mike said glancing at Leo, "You would you consider it being sick. Because most people would consider a running a fever being sick. Just not Don." Mike said giving Don an angry stare.

Don studied his soup like Raph was studying the book upstairs while Mike's eyes were boring into his head. There was a battle of wills going on. Finally Don said, "Okay, fine… I'll eat my soup and go lie down for hour before work. But you have to promise me that you'll help wake me up."

"You got it," Mike said brightly.

A battle of wills… and Mikey won. Two years ago, Don was the most stubborn of any of them. Don would sometimes cave to Leo, but not usually to Mikey. Leo felt even more dejected. Where did he fit now?

Don finished his soup, pushed it aside, and then put his head on the table, cradled in his arms. Before long, Mike and Leo were chatting about sports as the smells of frying onions wafted out of the kitchen. Mike finished cooking the burgers, piled on the cheese and onions, and then brought them over the table.

"Shouldn't we get Raph?" Leo asked, as Mike dropped down across the table from him.

"He'll be here," Mike replied, glancing at the clock. "Maybe 3 more minutes."

Leo wondered how Raph would know about dinner, but exactly 90 seconds later he walked into the kitchen.

"Nice," Raph said as he came over to the table. "I love these things." He picked up a burger and shoved half of it in his mouth. "What's up with Donny? He sick?"

"No," Don replied, mumbling into his arms.

"Yes," Mike said.

Raph cracked a smile, "That cleared it up."

Leo watched as Mike chuckled. Raph cracked a joke?

Raph grabbed Don by the top of his shell and hauled him, more or less, into a standing position. He hog marched Don out of the kitchen into the living room where he forced him to the couch.

Don mumbled something that Leo didn't catch, but Raph gave him a brief smile and then headed back into the kitchen where he devoured his burger and then grabbed another one.

"You'd think that him working for another company would be less hassle," Raph said starting on the other burger.

"It's not easier, but it's less trouble for April," Mike said. "I only half understood what he and April were talking about, but something about the IRS and no social security number… and how much April owed in taxes this year because of Don's little business. It wasn't pretty."

Leo glanced over at Don, who had his eyes closed and was breathing softly into a pillow. Then he looked at Raph, and then at Mikey. They all were exactly who they were, but yet, everyone had changed. Leo knew that his family needed him, and the last battle had shown him just how much. But between those times, when everything was normal, where did he fit?

* * *

Raph headed out of the lair. He and Mike managed to wake Don out of his stupor. He almost wished he hadn't. Don was sweating and shaking, but he said he didn't feel too bad. Raph doubted it, but then if Donny wanted to suffer, it was his own business.

Raph surfaced a few blocks from Casey's apartment, and keeping to the alleys, he made his way. Across the street from where he was walking, he saw a couple of punks, looking at a convenience store like it had potential. Raph sighed. He had given up the Nightwatcher, but those damn kids were going to break in.

Just as he was trying to figure out how to explain to Leo that he kicked shell that night, the two punks pulled out a device. They placed it on the ground beside the door. One of them hit a button, and they both dashed across the street.

Raph waited, holding his breath and keeping to the shadows. Finally the device made a small beep, hardly audible over the traffic noise. It gave off a few small flashes and the two punks ran back across the street and into the store.

In a rush, Raph followed, his trench coat flapping behind him. He raced for the door, reaching for his sai's. Then he stopped, mid motion. His whole body froze in place, like he was one of the sculptures made by his namesake. As he stood there, in a position that never would allowed him to stand upright without falling over, he saw the punks. They were moving like a movie in fast forward. Raph couldn't move. He couldn't even blink or breathe. The kids vaulted through the store like hyperactive mice, taking the cash, some cigarettes, and a 12 pack of pop. They ran back out of the store, one of them grabbing the device on the way past.

Raph unfroze, and continued running like nothing had happened. He was disoriented and his stomach churned. He flew straight into a wall, knocked his shoulder hard, and then stood up and looked around. The punk kids were gone, he couldn't even get a trace on them in any direction.

"What the hell?" Raph said aloud as he spun one more time on the spot. He got some curious stares, so he decided he better vanish. He jogged back across the street and ran the rest of the three blocks to Casey's apartment.

"Yo, Raph," Casey said as he came in the window. "The game already started, what took ya?"

Raph opened his mouth to reply, and then thought better of it. Casey would think he was nuts and if Leo found out about him "going Nightwatcher" it would be exactly like old times, the screaming, the bitching, the whining, the lectures. Raph didn't think he could take one of Leo's lectures without a sai ending in a place where neither one of them would want it.

"Mikey made his swiss onion burgers… I couldn't miss that." Raph said, easing on the couch.

He'd figure out what happened later. He just hoped he hadn't hurt his shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

The next afternoon, Mike idly flipped through television stations. Don was sound asleep on couch, not surprising considering he was up all night. But he didn't look good at all. Mike had checked on Splinter a couple of times that day. Splinter was very tired. Sitting up seemed to zap him of all his strength. Mike gave him the antibiotics, some more soup, and then checked his temp and his heart rate, like Donny usually did. He then put it in the notebook. It looked the fever was a lot lower than it was two days ago. Mike decided that was a good sign.

Don didn't have a fever, but he was a bit paler than normal. Mike figured that Don either had the same thing Splinter did, or he just caught a cold. In either case, sleep would do Don a world of good.

Something caught Mike's eye as he panned through chanells. He stopped to listen.

"… this man might have had something to do with the robbery."

A picture of Raph, in a trench coat and hat came on the screen.

Mike swore and nearly threw the remote.

The reporter continued, "He appears to be about 5' 10" tall, maybe 200 pounds, and the weird part, is he seems to be wearing a turtle costume. If anyone has an information about this man, or knows about a costume party from last evening where there was a turtle present, please contact local officials."

As the reporter spoke, the security camera showed Raph run headlong in a wall. Mike winced. That had to hurt. Mike swore again.

Don mumbled from the couch, "What's wrong?"

Mike looked at him and then back to the television. He started flipping channels again. "Don't worry about it dude. Just something stupid I saw on TV."

What was he going to do? If Leo found out that Raph was still patrolling by himself, they'd starting fighting again. Mike didn't think he could take that. Every verbal battle they waged was like a physical blow to him. They fought, and it hurt him. He never thought it was very fair. But he loved them both, idolized them both really. And when they went after each other, it was like part of insides were breaking.

Mike glanced back at Don. It hurt Don too when Leo and Raph fought. That's part of the reason why Don isolated himself so much. Don told him so after Leo had left. Don tended to lean on Leo's side, but even he thought that Leo went too far.

Mike couldn't let Raph and Leo fight again, not after everything that they'd been through. He glanced over at Donny again. Beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead. Mike stood up and knelt next to him. He gently placed the back of his hand on Don's forehead. A fever burned there. Not high, but enough.

"What's the matter," Don mumbled, shivering. "It's cold in here."

"No, that just you," Mike said, grabbing a blanket off of one of the chairs and throwing it over him.

"Thanks," he murmured into the pillows, pulling the blankets tightly around himself. "I'm so tired." Then he gave a hacking cough, much like the one Splinter had. His eyes, which had never opened, rolled to the back of head. But then they came back and opened into slits.

"Did you need something Mikey?" Don asked.

Mike thought about the news report. Then about Raph being caught and exposed. Then about Leo reaction. And then his eyes rested on his prone brother, so obviously miserable, and trying to hide it.

"Nope, I'm good. All major appliances are still intact, including the Wii remote," he said with a smile. "I just need you to get better."

"I'm not sick," Don said, with a bit of spirit.

"Dude… you're in denial," Mike said with a smile.

"I'm not in denial," Don said.

"Are you denying that you are in denial?"

"No."

"So you agree that you are in denial?"

"What?" Don said, his eyes snapping open.

"I see, you are still denying that you are in denial. Until you accept your fate, you can never move past it."

"Since when did you quote Chinese philosophers?" Don asked.

"It was in a fortune cookie," Mike said. "Now sleep."

Don gave another hacking cough. "That I can do." He let his eyes drop shut and within seconds he was breathing softly and rhythmically.

Don was out. Splinter was out. Raph needed to know, Leo needed not to know. That left one person… him. He felt an nervous tension rise in his stomach, what would Raph do? Would he fly into a rage at him like he did to Leo and Don? The feeling sat there like bad pizza, until Mike decided that maybe training a bit extra might help it go away, until Raph got home anyways.

Halfway through his third form, Leo poked his head in the dojo.

"Mikey?" he said, the question obvious from the tone of voice.

"What's up dude?" Mike replied, hoping that the causal tone of his voice would convince Leo that this was totally normal.

"What on earth are you doing?"

"I'm practicing. You always tell me I need more practice."

"Yeah, but you're actually doing it."

"So."

"You've never done extra practice before."

"Oh, I have, just not that often. When you were gone, I practiced by myself quite a bit," Mike said, covering the lie by an overzealous side kick.

From the corner of his eye, Mike caught Leo's skeptical look.

Mike continued, "Ask Donny about it sometime." Hoping that by the time Don was feeling better, Leo would have forgotten all about it.

Leo shrugged and Mike continued through the form. He was still watching intently as Mike finished.

"What?" Mike asked.

"When you're focused, you are really good. Better than I am. I wouldn't be able to do that form as well as you just did."

"Yes you would" Mike said, grabbing a drink of water from the side of the room.

"No, I wouldn't" Leo said. "Any ninja skill that I can do, you can do better, if you wanted too. That's why I'm always after you to practice harder."

"What about Raph?"

"What about him?"

"He's always doing his best. He's always giving it his all. Why are you always after him?"

Leo sighed, "Because he doesn't have any self control. He lets his emotions run over him. If he could just…"

"What?" Mike interrupted, "You want him to care less? Not let it bother him? Then he'd be just like me. And then he wouldn't be trying hard enough. You have to be careful what you wish for."

Leo looked momentarily stung, then it morphed to confusion, and then settled on shock. Mike turned and went to the center of the room, where he started another form. Moving through the motions took over the anxious pit in his stomach.

Leo opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. He stood there for another long minute while he watched Mike move through the form. Then without a word, he left. Mike sighed in relief. He hadn't told him about Raph, and he managed to put a good word in for Raph at the same time. He hated the hurt look on Leo's face, but it wasn't a full out fight like it would have been with Raph. Small victory.

* * *

Leo wandered out into the living room. He saw Don snuggled underneath a blanket, softly sleeping. He knew that things wouldn't be quite the same when he got home, but he also didn't expect everything to be so different. Mike practicing by himself on forms? A couple of years ago, that would have been completely weird, totally out of character, and enough of a oddity that Leo would have forced him to explain what was wrong. But today Mike claimed it was normal, and Leo didn't have a leg to stand on.

Don did though. Don would know if Mike was acting strange. He knelt on the floor next to the couch and shook Don's shoulder.

"Don. Hey Donny," Leo said.

"Yeah," Don replied without opening his eyes.

"Is Mikey acting weird?"

"Oh… hey Leo," Don said, opening his eyes a fraction. "What did you just say?"

"Is Mikey acting strange?"

"Doesn't he always?" Don replied, closing his eyes again.

"No, I mean it," Leo said, shaking Don awake again. "He's really acting weird."

Don sighed and opened his eyes again. "How?"

"He's practicing forms. He never practices, especially by himself, especially just forms."

"He's practicing forms?" Don asked, in a tone of mild interest.

"Yes. And he told that he does it all the time now."

Don snorted and said sarcastically, "Sure he does," then he closed his eyes again.

"So he doesn't practice all the time now? Since I left?" Leo questioned, feeling oddly triumphant.

"No. If anything he practices less than he did before you left."

"He lied to me," Leo commented. "Why did lie to me?"

"I'm sure he had his reasons," Don said, closing his eyes again.

"But it was a stupid lie. He knew within two minutes I'd find out. We need to go talk to him."

"Have fun," Don said, rolling over.

"You're coming with me," Leo said shaking him again.

"Why?"

"Because I need you as back-up. I can't call him on it without you there to back me up."

"Sure you can," Don assured, pulling the blanket around himself more tightly.

"But it won't do any good. We'll just end up in a circular argument where he won't admit he's wrong."

"So. He lied to you about training. Who cares?"

"I care," Leo said, anger burning into both words. First Mike lied, and now Don was dismissing it like it wasn't even important.

Don's eyes opened again, and he reluctantly sat up. "Look, I'm sorry Mike lied to you, but it doesn't seem like a big deal."

"He's hiding something from me. Something is wrong and he's not telling me."

"We're all hiding stuff from each other, all of the time," Don said.

"It didn't used to be that way," Leo said, sitting down next to him on the couch. "We used to tell each other everything."

Don laughed, "That's not how it ever was. Those years in the jungle must have made you forget all the crap. Raph never told us what he was up to half the time he left the lair. I was always making stuff that no one else remotely cared about. Did you ever look at any of the stuff that Mike wrote or drew?"

Leo sighed. He felt utterly dejected. He wondered if he even understood any of them anymore. He mediated as much as he could, trying to get a grip on this new reality, but it was elusive. His brothers shifted back and forth from who they were to different people that he didn't know. It was like trying to walk when he had a concussion.

Don sighed and put his hand on Leo's shoulder. "Look, if it makes you feel better, we can go talk to Mikey together. I suppose we should figure out what's bothering him."

"Really?" Leo asked, looking into his brother's face and seeing a tired version of the brother he used to know.

"Yeah, sure," Don said, sighing and pulling himself to his feet. "Sleep is overrated."

* * *

Not two seconds after Leo left, Raph's hunkering form appeared in the dojo. Part of Mikey was relived, at least he could get the conversation over with. Part of him felt like crawling into his shell.

"You practicing?" Raph asked, sounding as confused as he looked.

"I was actually waiting for you," Mike said, shifting from foot to foot.

"Why?"

"How's your shoulder?" Mike asked.

Raph rubbed the shoulder that he'd hurt in the video, but said, "Fine."

There was a pause where they stared at each other. Mike bucked up the courage and said, "I was flipping through channels a half hour ago and guess who I saw on TV tonight?"

"Do I care?" Raph asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I saw you."

Raph's face morphed into shock. "On TV?"

"Yeah, on the news… in a hat, and trench coat, fleeing the scene of a crime. And you are the primary suspect. The police asked people to keep an eye out for you."

Raph became a turtle statue, so Mike asked "What happened?"

Raph hesitated for minute, rubbed his shoulder again, and then explained. Mike listened to the story. He felt confused.

"So you didn't run straight into the wall?" Mike asked.

"No. I froze for at least thirty seconds before everything went back to normal. Then I ran into the wall. The punk kids got away, with the device," Raph said. "I wished I could have grabbed it and had Donny look at it."

"Have me look at what?" Don asked as he and Leo walked into the room.

"What are you doing awake?" Mike asked him, dumbfounded.

"Leo woke me up," Don said.

"Why did you do that," Mike asked Leo.

"Because you lied to me," Leo said. "I thought you had, but I needed Don to confirm it for me. Something is wrong. You never practice. You're hiding something and then you lied to me. Why?"

Mike looked from Raph, who looked sheepish and angry, to Donny, who was dead on his feet, to Leo who looked hurt and angry. So much for trying to prevent a fight. He stretched his arms over his head and then patted his stomach. "Hey, I'm hungry guys. Let's go get some food."

"You aren't leaving until you answer me," Leo said.

"You can't keep him here," Raph said looking annoyed.

"He lied to me Raph," Leo shot back.

"About what?" Raph asked.

"Practicing."

"Like that matters," Raph shot back.

"Lying matters. The subject isn't important. It erodes the basic trust we need to function as a team, or survive as a family."

"Besides," Don said, stepping up next to Leo, "It's not like you to lie, Mikey. Is there something wrong?"

Mike looked between each of his brothers again. The truth was going to come out eventually. It was better coming from him than anyone else. "Look, I'll tell you, but you all have to promise me that you won't overreact."

Don snickered, "This is Leo and Raph we're talking about."

Mike scowled at Don, "I'm not kidding."

They all murmured agreement and Mike told the story, including Raph's portion and his explanation. After his narrative wound down, the dojo seemed oddly quiet. Mike glanced between them, wondering who was going to crack first.

It was Leo, "You got caught on a security camera? What were you thinking?"

"It's not like he meant it to happen, Leo," Mike said.

"No, but it did. If he had left good enough alone, and just gone to Casey's like he said he was, none of this ever would have happened."

"I couldn't just walk away when there was something that I could do about it," Raph said. "It's who I am."

"You better do something about it…" Leo began, but Don cut him off.

"Leo, drop it. It's over. There isn't anything we can do about it now. As irresponsible as Raph was, nothing we can do or say will change it. We'll just have to all be more careful." Don finished with a cough.

"Like we weren't already careful," Raph shot back at Don.

"You know what I meant," Don said. "The cops are going to be keeping a closer eye on anyone walking around in a trench coat and hat. That means that I'll either have to figure out a new disguise, or just not go out. That'll be tough if Splinter needs any other medications."

Mike piped up, "The only place you should be going is to bed dude. Have you slept at all today?"

Raph ignored Mike and stared Don down, "Don't use that tone with me. Like you're the only one who's got anything to complain about. This wasn't my fault."

"Sure it wasn't," Don said, in irritation. "There was another mutant turtle wandering the streets of New York randomly trying to stop robberies." He stopped a gave a horrible hacking cough. Then continued, "If you were going to forget all our talks about security cameras, the least you could have done was stop the actual robbery. Then you wouldn't be wanted by the police."

"You ain't perfect either genius. Do you know what's wrong with Splinter yet? Or are you going to let him die in front of our eyes?"

Don's face paled. He shook his head and walked out of the room.

"That's not fair Raph," Leo said, watching Donny's back as he headed into the hallway. "He's not a doctor. He can't figure everything out. You know that."

"Yeah, well, he knows that you can't always avoid security camera's either. I hate his attitude. He acts like he's the only turtle who does anything around here."

"Well," Mike pointed out, "He pays for everything, fixes everything, is the doctor…"

"But he ain't perfect," Raph said. "He doesn't know everything."

"No, he doesn't," Leo agreed. "And for once I agree with you, his attitude isn't the greatest lately. But he isn't the issue. You are. What are you going to do to take responsibility for your mistake?"

"There is something he can do?" Mike asked perplexed.

"Damn right I can," Raph answered back. "I'm going to track down the punks that set me up."

Mike's stomach sank even further, "I don't suppose we could just drop it. Lay low for awhile and hope the whole thing blows over."

"No," Raph and Leo answered together.

"That never works," Raph said. "It just gets us more trouble. I'm going scouting. See what I can find out."

"Don't go by yourself," Leo ordered. "Take Mikey with you. Two sets of eyes are better than one."

Mike glanced between them and something like anger bubbled in his stomach. "I can't go right now."

"What? Why?" Leo asked.

"Someone has to take care of Splinter," Mike said. "He'll need some dinner here in another hour or so."

"Donny can take care of that," Leo said. "You two get going. Check in if you find anything. Donny and I will scout on the internet and see what we can find."

"No," Mike said.

"No what?" Leo asked.

"I can't do that until after Master Splinter has supper."

"I said that Donny can do that. He's too tired to go out with Raph, so you'll have to go with him if we want to get to the bottom of this."

"But I just can't," Mike said, feeling his stomach do flip flops. "I need to help with Splinter."

"Splinter gave me command of the team exactly for reasons like this. When he's not feeling up to making decisions, we need a single point of command. That's me. Come on, Mikey. Donny can do whatever it is that you were going to do. This is important. We need to know what's going on."

Mike stared between them and buckled. "Fine. Just give a couple minutes to talk to Donny before I go."

"I'll give you ten," Raph said as he headed over the weapon's rack.

Mike sighed and left the room. He found Don exactly where he expected to find him, sitting next to Splinter's side. Don's head was resting on the bed. For a minute, Mike thought he was asleep, but then he gave a ragged sigh.

"Hey," Mike said putting his hand on Don's shoulder. "You okay?"

Don shrugged. "I think I liked Raph better when he thought Leo was dead."

Mike cracked a smile. "Raph and I are heading topside to see what we can find out about that device and the kids that were using it. I'll probably be gone for a couple of hours. You okay here? Can you get Splinter his meds and dinner and stuff."

Don stared at him with a hollow expression. "Do I have a choice?"

Mike shrugged. "Not really."

"Then I guess I'll be fine."

Mike placed his hand on Don's forehead. He was running a fever again. "You know," Mike said, "If you told Leo you were sick, he'd let me stay here and then I could get Splinter his soup and medicines. And you could get some sleep."

"And I would get the mother of all lectures for Leo," Don said wincing. "And Raph would be impossible. I can stay awake long enough to get Splinter some dinner. It'll save me getting yelled at."

"They wouldn't yell at you," Mike said. "Not for being sick. It's not like you can control that."

"Maybe not," Don said looking up at him, "But after what Raph just said and I'm not anxious to try again. If it means no more fights, I can do it."

"Then Leo is going to want you to help him search the internet," Mike said.

"Which he's perfectly capable of doing himself," Don said. "Besides, I won't be able to stay awake that long. So it's a moot point. Just go. It's okay."

A few minutes later, Mike followed Raph out the door. Before they rounded the first bend, Mike glanced back toward the lair. He had feeling that something awful was going to happen, or worse, it was already happening. Mike shook the thought from his head and caught up to Raph. There wasn't anything he could do about it.


	3. Chapter 3

Don sighed and he pulled himself up from beside Splinter. He took a few steps and then started to cough. He stumbled out into the kitchen, but the coughing wasn't stopping. He sat down at the table, still coughing.

"Are you okay?" Leo said walking into the room.

Don couldn't answer. The coughing continued in great heaping spasms that rocked his whole body.

"Easy, buddy," Leo said.

Don felt Leo's warm hand on his neck. Don managed to choke out, "Water." The hand left and a second later, a glass sat next to him at the table. Don picked it up with shaking hands. The cool liquid ran down his burning throat. Then he took a tentative deep breath, The coughing stopped.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked again, sitting down next to him at the table.

"I've been better," Don said, with a sigh.

"Is there anything I can do?" Leo asked, his eyes full of concern.

Don shook his head no, but then thought better of it, "Could you… Would you get Splinter his soup and medicine? Please?"

"Sure," Leo said. "What do I need to do?"

"Just heat the soup in the microwave for a minute and then give him two of the pills beside his bed."

"Yeah, no problem. Do you need to rest? I forgot that you worked all last night. I guess I shouldn't have woken you earlier."

"Don't worry about it," Don pushed himself back to his feet and then suddenly his vision filled with stars. He grabbed the chair with both of his hands, steadying himself.

"Donny?"

Don heard Leo's voice through a mist. The stars became flecked with black spots.

The next thing he knew, Leo was shaking his arm and yelling at him.

"Donny! Donny. Donatello."

Don opened his eyes and found himself lying on the kitchen floor. "I'm okay Leo," he said, pushing himself up. He struggled into a sitting position. After he got upright, he was panting like he had just run five miles.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

Don took a shaky breath. "I guess I passed out."

"But why?" Leo asked, still looking scared.

Don looked guiltily at his own hands.

When he didn't answer, Leo repeated his question.

Don looked up at his older brother and said, "My best bet is exhaustion."

"You're that tired?" Leo said, the fearful look morphing to confusion.

Don nodded. "Yeah. I've worked double shifts before. It's not usually this bad afterwards. Maybe Mikey's right. Maybe I am sick."

Leo said quietly, "Yeah, maybe. Here, let me help you."

Don felt Leo's hand grab his forearm, and Leo pulled him into a standing position. Don tottered again, as the flickering lights appeared in his vision, but Leo steadied him. They made their way to the couch. Don collapsed on it and found it impossible to keep his eyes open.

From along way away, he heard Leo say, "Get some rest."

That wouldn't be a problem.

* * *

Leo stepped back from his brother. The ice that lodged in his stomach when Don collapsed still hadn't left. He didn't know what he would have done if Don hadn't woken up again. Don was out for less than a minute, but that was the longest minute of Leo's life. He had seen all of his brothers hurt in battle before, sometimes even taking what looked like fatal blows. But he was always fighting, moving, planning. He was so busy he couldn't feel. Now he felt. And he didn't like it, at all.

Looking down at Don, Leo noticed that he was already asleep. His breathing coming in soft snores out of the pillow where Don had buried his face. That couldn't be normal. No one could be that tired.

He stood there for several minutes, trying to master himself. Finally, he decided to get Master Splinter his soup and medicine.

Leo found the Miso soup in the fridge, warmed it, and then brought it to the bedroom. Splinter was asleep. Leo found the medicine sitting on the table next to Splinter's bed. He gently shook his master's shoulder, trying to get him to wake up. It took several long minutes. Then Leo got him into a sitting position and gave him the soup. After a few minutes, Splinter tired and couldn't hold the spoon without it shaking, so Leo started to feed him. Once the bowl was almost empty, Leo got him to wash down the pills.

"Thank you my son," Splinter said, as he returned to his position under the blankets. "Where are your brothers? I'm glad to have you, but I expected Michelangelo or Donatello."

Leo shrugged, "Don worked a double shift last night and he's sleeping."

Splinter nodded thoughtfully, "How is he feeling?"

The icy stomach was back in an instant. "I don't think he's feeling very well. But he won't admit it to himself. He pushes himself so hard."

"Yes," Splinter commented. "He does what he thinks he must. As do we all. I sense that something is troubling you."

Leo sighed. "I'm glad to be home. And I understand now how important we are to each other. But it seems like everyone has changed so much over the last two years. Sometimes it feels like I don't even know them anymore."

"My son," Splinter said blinking his huge brown eyes. "They have changed, yes. But the person who has changed the most, is you."

"What?"

"Your brothers have grown much in the last two years. Donatello has taken the care of the family into his hands. It has aged him. Raphael has grown to care for people he doesn't know and to help where he can. Wisdom is not his strength, but he did not self destruct and he is stronger. Michelangelo cared for his brothers, being the link that kept them together."

Splinter paused here for a long time. It almost looked like he had fallen asleep. Just when Leo was going to say something he continued.

"You… my son… spent two years alone. Too long. A year alone is a time for reflection. A time to understand yourself. Come to terms with your strengths and weakness. To know thyself. Two years alone, a person can no longer see themselves clearly. Two years alone, a person's ego becomes distorted, losing grasp on the sense of one and others. I know. I spent many many years alone."

Leo stared at his master for a long time, trying both to understand the words and their deeper meaning.

Splinter said, "Another way perhaps… Tell me about your day."

"My day?" Leo asked.

"Yes. Tell me what you did."

Leo thought about it for a minute. "I woke up at 7 and mediated until breakfast. I ate, and then practiced for an hour before Mike and Raph joined me. We practiced for another hour. Then I mediated again. I took a shower, had some lunch, and then watched TV a bit with Raph. Then I practiced some more, and mediated more, and then, well, all four of us had a discussion, and I sent Raph and Mike out to check out a few things."

Splinter nodded, "I heard a bit of that while your brothers thought I was sleeping. Let me ask you this. How did you brother Michelangelo spend his day?"

"I don't know," Leo said, and somehow the question was unsettling.

"You live with him. You know him well. You might not know exactly, but you have a good guess. Tell me."

"He, ah… woke up and made breakfast. Then he zoned out for awhile before practice, and then he went to practice. After that he showered, made lunch, and then I think he was watching TV this afternoon."

"Yes. He also brought me breakfast and lunch, and gave me medicines. How much of his day was devoted to himself, and how much to others?"

Leo stared at Splinter and wondered at the question. "I don't know."

"Let's talk about Raphael then. What did he do toady?

"He got up, had breakfast, went to practice, and then I think he was in the shop working on his bike."

"Yes. But also cleaned up the kitchen after breakfast I would guess. In the shop, was he doing his own projects or was he helping your brother Donatello?"

Leo's jaw hung off his face, "I don't know."

"Then let's talk about Donatello. What did he do with his day?"

"He worked until after lunch and then fell asleep."

"He came in a few times to check on me and had an early breakfast with Michelangelo. My son, reflect on what I have just told you. Mediate on your brothers and their lives and perhaps you will begin to understand."

Leo nodded, and then took the bowl and headed back to the kitchen. He put the bowl in the sink and wandered in to check on Don. Don hadn't moved a muscle. Leo sunk to the floor beside him.

'Mediate on your brothers, and you will begin to understand. The person that has changed the most is you.' He took a centering breath and focused his attention on Don's soft breathing. Rhythmic, constant, soft, like the turtle himself.

Thoughts like flashes of light danced in front of him. Causes, effects, Don's breathing. Don was sleeping because he was tired. He was tired because he worked all night. He worked all night to get money. He wanted money to… and then Leo got it… to take care of his family. Leo's thoughts drifted to Mike. Mike was taking care of the family and then to Raph… Raph was taking care of the family, maybe less than the others, but he made up for it by taking care of strangers.

Wasn't he taking care of the family too? And the he tensed… no he wasn't. Everything that day had been focused only on himself. No thought or concern to his brothers or his father. Don was feeling ill and Leo knew that he worked the night before, but he woke him anyways. Leo knew that Mike was keeping something from him, but he was more concerned about the effect of lying rather than why Mike felt it was necessary. Now, Mikey needing to lie bothered him more than the lie itself.

He had become self-centered in his time away. Taking a line from his brother sleeping in front of him, a problem defined is half solved. He resolved to start putting his family first. And the easiest way to start would be to check in with Mike and Raph. He grabbed his shell cell and flipped it open.

* * *

Raph skidded to a stop at the edge of building and peered over the roof.

"It's right there," he told Mike, standing just behind him. "That's the convenient store."

"So what did the guys look like," Mike asked.

"They were kids. But they were moving so fast that I didn't get a good look at them."

"Kids?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, kids. Maybe 15, 16 years old."

"So a gang?" Mike asked.

Raph shrugged, "Probably."

"A gang with new piece of alien technology?"

Raph swore and then said, "You're right. The only group who could have their fingers in this mess is Hun."

"And the Purple Dragons," Mike finished. "And we even know where they live."

"Just let me get my hands on them. Framing me." Raph felt the familiar anger burn under his ribs.

Raph led the way as they made their way, over buildings, to the headquarters of the Purple Dragons. They slipped into a skylight, and dropped silently on a ceiling rafter.

"So what exactly are we going to do?" Mike asked in a loud whisper.

Raph clamped his hand over Mike's mouth and hissed "Shut up."

Raph led them to a catwalk and jumped onto it as silently as a cat. He narrowed his eyes and looked around for any sign of people. The building was quiet. Except for the thud of his brother landing behind him. Raph headed toward the nearest way down, a ladder a 100 feet away. He grabbed the sides, put his feet on either side and then slide the way down. He landed with a soft whoosh. He turned around and watched Mike thunder down each step.

When Mike was in reach, Raph grabbed him and pulled him off the ladder, tossing him. "Could you be any louder?" Raph whispered.

Mike grinned and said loudly, "Sure. How loud do you want me to be?"

Raph whacked him in the back of the head. And Mike yelped even louder. Raph put his hand over Mike's mouth again. "Don't you get it?" Raph asked in a harsh whisper.

"No," Mike said quietly. "I don't. What are you planning to get out of this?"

"Yes, turtle. What are you planning to get out of this?" a voice said from behind them.

Raph spun on the spot. Anger welled up under his heart. Hun walked toward them, muscles bristling, with a dozen or so teenagers, including the two that knocked over the convenience store.

"So," Raph said, in his Nightwatcher voice, "Where'd you get the new weapon Hun?"

Hun gave Raph a long look. "It will feel so good to crack your shell in two like a walnut."

The group approached. Several hands held weapons: chains, blades, pipes. No guns or other long range weapons. Raph did a quick count, 12 total. No problem.

Mike glanced over to him, "Should we get out of here?"

"And miss all the fun," Raph asked. He pulled his sais out and faced the first two teenagers. The first came at him with a pipe, the second swung a baseball bat. Raph ducked under the pipe and caught the bat welder by the upper arm and twisted hard. The kid holding the pipe hollered in pain, and dropped it. Raph planted a kick into the stomach of the first kid, and sent him flying 10 feet across the room.

"Raph?" Mike said.

But Raph didn't glance over. Two more punks flanked either side of him, one held a chain, the other had a short knife. The kid with the chain threw it low, trying to snag his legs. Raph jumped clear, but the other kid lashed out with the knife, cutting Rpah's arm. It didn't hurt, so Raph landed, spun and kicked it out of the kid's hands. And then turned and planted a kick in the chest of the chain welder.

"Raph!" Mike said, more insistently.

"What?" Raph asked, still not looking at him. He blocked a pipe coming at his head and then sent a roundhouse kick into the kid's stomach. The kid doubled over, moaning.

"Look," Mike yelled at him.

"What," Raph said, finally looking over. There were another 30 people heading toward them, just about everyone of them was holding a gun. Raph swore, and then stumbled, pain bursting from his legs. In his moment of inattention, a kid caught him in the back of the legs with a pipe. Raph roared and spun kicking the kid in the head and he was about to charge the next in line when he felt a three fingered hand on his shoulder.

Mike was in his face, "We have to get out of here."

And then Hun was over them both. "I'd like to see you try." He grabbed them both and threw them back into the wall. Raph was stunned, and his ears were ringing. No, wait, that was his cell phone.

He grabbed it off his belt, glanced at it and said, "Now is not a good time, Leo."


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: Okay... sometimes inspirations hits and a chapter can be finished and edited in a day or two... Insteed of a week or two... Thanks again for reading. _

* * *

Leo made it to the headquarters of the purple dragons in less than ten minutes, which had to be a record. He spent thirty pointless seconds trying to wake up Don, and then left. Whether he admitted it to himself or not, Don was sick, and Leo couldn't have him passing out during a battle.

Leo kicked in a side door and slipped in the building. The main floor had a boxing ring in the center with stands along the sides. A group of people, forty or so, were standing in a semi circle against the far wall. Leo could see Hun, but he couldn't see either of his brothers.

Leo quietly scaled one of the stands, and peered overtop of the crowd. Mike and Raph were in a battle with Hun. Only Mikey was still standing. He stood over Raph with a cocky smile for Hun, dodging every punch the huge man could throw. But Leo knew that Mike was tired. He could tell from the way he drug his feet. It was only a matter of seconds before they both were down.

But then too, there was no way that Leo could take down forty people on his own. Even if they were just kids. He glanced around, taking in the environment. And he figured out a plan.

He jumped down from the stands. He rushed along the outer wall, until he found it. A little red box under a glass case. He smashed out the glass with the butt of his sword. Then he pulled down the switch. Immediately a loud wailing filled the room, and even better, sprinklers shot out of the ceiling and started spraying everything with water.

Leo darted away from the fire alarm and stashed himself underneath a nearby set of bleachers. He heard Hun's yell of rage, and exclamations of annoyance from the others. From between the rows of seats, Leo saw that the crowd scattered in all directions, leaving only Hun, and five others standing around his brothers.

One of the kids leaving wandered close to Leo. He grabbed the kid by the mouth and hit him over the head with the butt of sword again. The kid dropped like a rock, silent as flea. Leo grabbed the semi-automatic weapon he'd been holding. Leo took aim at a group of kids fleeing out the door he came in. He started shooting at them, aiming at the ground in front of their feet.

The kids scattered like ants, and returned fire as they dove for cover. Leo darted to another spot under the same bleacher and fired again. The kids divided their gunfire between the two spots. But then a bonus. Some guys in the stands starting firing at the kids who were shooting at Leo. With in seconds, the room was in chaos. Guns fired in every direction. The noise was like a steam train and the smell of sulfur was heavy in the air. But nicest of all, a cover of smoke started to fill the room.

Leo glanced over to his brothers. Mike was still on his feet. He must have gotten a couple good shots in on Hun, because Hun was hunched over. The other people near Hun had left.

Firing off another couple of shots, Leo dropped his gun and ran toward Mikey. Mike saw him coming and gave him a quick nod.

Leo placed a hard kick into Hun's back at the same time Mike swept low. Hun fell to the floor, landing with a ground shaking thud, which they couldn't hear over the gunfire.

Leo reached down, threw Raph over his back and headed to the ladder on the wall. He scaled it easily, and then he and Mike made their way out of the skylight.

"Shell, I'm glad to see you," Mike said panting heavily as they paused on the roof. "That was seriously not going well."

"Yeah, I saw that," Leo said, with a grim smile. "But we're not out of the woods yet. We still need to get out of here."

Leo looked around, mostly down, to gage the outcome of the battle inside. The shooting had mostly stopped, but the siren was still wailing. They might have another a minute before they figured out what happened.

"Let's go, double time," Leo said to Mikey. "When we hit the ground, head straight to the manhole on 83rd."

"Right," Mike said, nodding.

"Go." Leo said, "I'm right behind you."

Mike hit the asphalt at a run and Leo was behind. Just as Leo rounded the building, he heard a kid yell, "There they are."

Leo picked up his pace and caught up to Mike as he lifted the manhole cover off. Mike jumped in and Leo dropped Raph into Mikey's waiting arms. Then Leo hissed, "Get back home with Raph. I'll met you there."

Before Mike could protest, Leo dropped the cover on the hole and sprinted into the nearest alley.

* * *

Mike watched hopelessly as the cover sealed him into the sewer. Fantastic. He stared at Raph, looked down at his wrist, which from the feel of it, was either broken or sprained and then back to the two-hundred pound green lump that was his brother. Great. Now what. He swore that when he saw Leo again… at this point, if he saw Leo again… he would give him a Raph style pounding.

Using his right hand, which wasn't coursing with pain, Mike managed to heave Raph over his shoulders. Mike then set off for home, hoping that he could make it before he was followed.

As he plodded along, slower and slower with each step, he heard nothing but the sound of dripping water. He realized what Leo did. Leo was making sure that he was followed, so that Mike could get home with Raph. Great plan, except that ever step he took, he grew more and more exhausted. Finally Mike dropped to his knees, set Raph against the wall, and slumped next to him.

"I don't suppose you'll wake up?" Mike asked his unconscious brother. "Because you aren't a lightweight or anything. You could layoff the pizza more often. That would really help us out of this."

Mike considered his options. He didn't think he would be able to carry Raph the mile back to the lair. Even if he hadn't just gone three rounds with Hun, carrying Raph that far was darn near impossible. Leo was probably still trying to led the Purple Dragons away. That left one turtle. Donatello, who was sick and worked all last night. But on the other hand, Raph was unconscious… and Don could bring the sewer slider. He pulled out his phone.

* * *

Don heard a ringing. He answered his shell cell, but it kept ringing. He said hello over and over again, but the phone kept ringing.

Then Don's eyes snapped open. He dreamt that he answered the phone. The real phone was still ringing. He took off his belt and brought it to his ear.

"Hello?" he croaked.

* * *

At the sound of his brother's voice Mike cringed. Don sounded awful. His voice was weak, he sounded totally disoriented. But he couldn't get Raph home. He needed help and Leo was out.

"Hey, Donny," Mike said tentatively. "Um… Raph took a shot to the head, and my wrist is all screwed up. I'm trying to get him home, but I need some help. Could you come get us in the sewer slider?"

There was a long pause. Finally Don said, "Mikey?"

"Yeah, it's me Donny." Mike said, his stomach sinking.

"What did you just say?"

"I need help. Raph's unconscious, I hurt my arm. Can you come get us in the sewer slider?"

There was another long pause. "Yeah," Don finally said. "Sewer slider. Where are you?"

Mike repeated the location three times before Don got it.

"I'll be waiting for you," Mike said hopefully, as the line went dead. Then he glanced down at Raph and sighed. "Well, you know, on the bright side, Don is the one turtle who never lets a guy down."

* * *

With a great deal of effort, his arms and legs felt like lead, Don got to his feet and stumbled toward the sewer slider. He repeated Mike's location to himself over and over again, because he was afraid that he was going to forget it.

Just as he walked into the shed, he started to cough. He hacked and hacked and hacked. His chest was on fire. He couldn't breath. He found himself on his knees, clutching the side of the sewer slider for support. The coughing kept going and going, until Don's whole body trembled. Finally it stopped and he slumped to the floor, exhausted.

He realized that he had blood on his hands. Then all of sudden, the pieces all fell together. He swore to himself. Why didn't he think of it before? Leo had just gotten back from South America.

But then again, Leo wasn't sick and Splinter wasn't showing typical symptoms, other than the weakness. He, himself, was showing typical symptoms. Then a cold fear hit him. If he remembered right, the typical course of antibiotics took months, sometime years to complete. And if he had it, Splinter had it, and Leo obviously did, Mike and Raph would be exposed as well.

Don did a quick calculation in his head. All five of them would need to be tested and on antibiotics for months. Expensive ones at that. There was no way they could afford to treat everyone, even if Don was healthy enough to work. And without antibiotics, he would grow weaker every day as the infection destroyed his body.

The darkness of exhaustion rimmed his vision. He knew that Mike and Raph needed help. He knew that they were both hurt. He tried to get up again, but it felt like his body was glued to the floor. He literally couldn't lift his head.

The effort of just trying to move zapped the rest of his strength. He couldn't do it. He couldn't help them. Tears ran down his face and plopped on the floor. He had failed his family, when they needed him. He had failed.

As the stars flecked his vision for the third time in as many hours, Don realized that he might be out for a long time. He might sleep for days like Master Splinter. And there was no way for his brothers to know what was wrong. Now that he knew the problem, at the very least they could help Splinter. Remembering the blood on his hands, he traced two letters on the floor next to him.

Two thoughts ran through his head before he passed out. The first was that he hoped Mike and Raph were okay. The second was they were probably already infected and without meds, it might be better to die in battle.

* * *

Leo dashed to the top of the fire escape and ran like he was on fir. Then he jumped, landing on the next building over. He repeated the maneuver several times until his was four blocks away from the kids who were still chasing him. He had let them follow him for almost two miles before ditching them on the roof. He kept them all with in range, and talked to himself during the run to hopefully prove that he still had Mike and Raph with him.

He watched for a minute on a roof as the kids turned in circles in the alley where he had disappeared. Finally with their shoulders hunched over and they left in a pack. Leo sighed and jumped a few more buildings before he descended to the street and ducking into the nearest manhole. He jogged home.

As Leo entered the lair, he knew something was wrong. First of all, it was eerily quiet. Mike was never quiet, even when he was sleeping. Which meant he wasn't here, or he had passed out. Leo padded through the lair, noticing that Don was gone, Splinter was sleeping, and Mike and Raph were no where to be seen.

Leo sighed. He figured that Mike, for whatever reason, couldn't get Raph back and called Don for help. If that were true than all of them were probably headed back this way now. Leo sighed, headed back out the door and then wound his way back to where he had left Mikey and Raph.

* * *

Something was wrong. Mike felt it in his bones. Don would never make him wait this long. He pulled out his shell cell, dialed Don's number. It rang and rang and rang. But his brother never answered it. The worry in Mike's stomach grew. Don was sick, that much was obvious, but was he so sick he couldn't answer his phone? Was he so sick that he crashed the sewer slider.

Those thoughts weren't comforting. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more his anxiety grew. He was upset about a sore wrist and that Raph weighed a ton. He convinced his brother to come get him, to help him. But why couldn't he get home, because his wrist hurt? Looking back at it, the reasoning seemed pretty weak. Don had been running a fever for almost a week and didn't complain once. Sick as he was, Don agreed to come get him, without question. Why? Because he hurt his wrist. It wasn't like Mike hurt his legs or was unconscious. He felt ashamed of himself. If anything had happened to Don, Mike didn't know if he would be able to forgive himself.

Now his worry about Don – and Raph – overcame the pain in his arm. He leaned over, heaved Raph on his back, and started off for home at quick trot.

Mike heard steps approaching and quickened his pace. He rounded a bend and saw Leo.

"Good," Leo said as he approached Mike. "When you hadn't gotten home, I was worried that something happened to you."

"Nah," Mike said with a cheesy grin "It's just I hurt my arm, and it made it hard to carry Raph."

Leo cracked a smile, "He's not a lightweight."

"I heard that," Raph slurred.

"Nice of you to join us Raph," Mike said, with playful irritation. "You owe me $50 for the taxi service." Mike set him down on the floor.

Leo asked, "Do you think you can walk?"

Raph shook his head as if to clear it. "Maybe. Just give me a minute."

Leo checked Raph over as he sat, mumbling to himself. "A couple of bruises, one nice gash on your arm, and…" Leo glanced at Raph's eyes… "Concussion. But I think you'll live. We'll have to ask Don if you need stitches on that cut. Where is he anyway?"

Mike's stomach dropped into his legs, "You didn't see him on your way here?"

"No, and he wasn't in the lair either. I figured he came after you."

"Well," Mike said, slowly, "I called him and asked to come get me in the sewer slider. Only he didn't come. I figured I'd run into him on the way back."

Leo looked horrified. "I didn't see him, either at the lair or on the way here."

Mike asked, hopeful, "Could he have gone a different way?"

"Maybe. But if he did, how will we find him."

At least Mike could answer that question. "The shell cells have trackers." He pulled his out and showed Leo the button on the side. He flipped it on and adjusted the dial to the purple setting. "He's Northwest of here about a mile or so away."

Leo's face crinkled for a minute, "You mean he's at home."

"Yeah," Mike said sheepishly. Knowing Don was at home was a big relief. He was okay. He must have been asleep when Leo came in. Which would make sense as to why he didn't come in the sewer slider. He must have fallen back asleep and turned off his phone. Mike broke into a grin, "So Don's missing? Did you check his lab or his bedroom or even the garage?"

Leo shrugged and his face flushed red. "No, I guess not. Let's get Raph home, before anything else happens. Why were you guys there in the first place?"

"They're the ones with the new weapon."

"What were you planning to do, besides get your shells kicked by Hun?"

Mike felt annoyance creep up on him. "Ask Raph. I still don't know."

"With that concussion, he probably won't remember," Leo commented.

"If he knew in the first place," Mike agreed.

"Let's get going."

* * *

Raph was still only semi-aware when they got home. He couldn't remember what had happened or why they were at the headquarters for the Purple Dragons, but he did remembered his name and general information about himself. Leo figured he'd be fine. But he needed Don to confirm.

Mike and Leo half carried, half dragged Raph into the lab. They set him on a cot, and Raph fell back into a semi-doze. Leo looked at the cut on his shoulder. It had stopped bleeding. Leo would rather clean it before Raph woke up, but then it might need stitches.

He turned to Mike, "Go find Donatello. He needs to check over Raph."

Mike nodded and left the room. Leo started to disinfect the other minor wounds that Raph had. Mike turned up at the door a few minutes later.

"Dude. I can't find him," Mike said, looking worried.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, worry of his own forming in his chest.

"I looked all over the place. He's not here."

"But he has to be here. The tracker said he was here," Leo insisted and then taking one last glance at Raph, he headed out the of the door in front of Mike.

Leo walked through the lair calling "Donatello," as loud as he dared. Don was in none of his regular haunts. Not in his room, not in his lab, not in the garage, or with Splinter.

The images of Don passing out a couple of hours earlier flashed in his head. Then he shook his head and turned back to Mike, who was also calling.

"He probably passed out somewhere," Leo said.

"What? Why?" Mike asked, looking concerned.

"Because he passed out earlier today. After you left."

"He must be sicker than we thought," Mike said, looking worried.

"Yeah, I think he is. He has to be here. Just where?"

"The sewer slider," Mike said. "I called him to come get me. He might have headed to the shed."

Leo nodded and the two brothers hurried to the spot. Mike got to the door first. He froze. Leo a second behind asked, "Is he there?"

Mike didn't answer.

"Mikey, is he there?" Leo asked again, peering over Mike's shoulder. Leo gasped, pushed passed Mike, and knelt on the floor beside Don.

Leo ran a hand to Don's neck. A pulse -- very fast but strong -- was beating under his fingers. Leo placed the back of his hand on Don's forehead. He was running a fever. Leo checked Don's breathing. It sounded awful, like lawn mower.

Leo glanced over to Mike who was still frozen to the spot. "Hey, Mike, he's okay. He's just sick. He probably overdid it with that double shift. I'm sure in a few days he'll be feeling a lot better."

Mike shook his head. "Did you see what he wrote?"

Leo stood up and looked around, but he couldn't see anything. "What?"

"He wrote TB."

"And?" Leo asked, confused.

"TB, you know Tuberculosis. Don is telling us that he and Splinter have Tuberculosis."

"That's bad?" Leo asked looking from his unconscious brother the one who was shuddering in the doorway.

"I think so," Mike said. "I think it's as bad as it can get."


	5. Chapter 5

Don moaned in his sleep and opened his eyes. His entire body felt like lead, but he was hungry. He felt like he should get up and try to eat something.

When he looked around, he realized that he was in his room, which was good because the last thing he remembered he was laying on the floor of the shed.

Mike said, "Good morning sleeping beauty."

Mike was standing in his doorway. His wrist was wrapped, but otherwise he looked like himself, including the trademark grin.

"Hey, Mikey," Don said, smiling himself. "You okay?"

"Me?" Mike asked, sounding confused, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's you that we're worried about."

"But didn't you get hurt?" Don said. "Your wrist?"

Mike flushed red. "Just a sprain. No biggie. It was just hard carrying lard butt back to the lair when I couldn't use my hand."

Don chuckled, "Lard butt as in Raph?"

"You got it, dude. As soon as he's feeling better, I'm putting that boy on a diet."

"What happened?" Don said, sitting up.

"Raph decided to singlehandedly take down purple dragon headquarters."

"And it didn't go well?" Don asked

"About as well as you'd think it would. If Leo hadn't shown up when he did, we'd still be there, a lot deader."

Don digested that for a minute and then asked, "How is the hothead anyway?"

"He'll be fine. Just a concussion and a cut. Leo decided to give him stitches… that was funny because Leo forgot the Novocain and Raph woke up and nearly clocked him. Anyways, he still has a bad headache which makes him even more grouchy than usual, so I'd avoid him if I were you."

Don smiled, "I'd avoid me if I were him."

"So. Tuberculosis?"

"I think so," Don said and he felt exhausted all over again. "We'll need to test everyone to be sure." He laid back down and started to violently cough. The coughs made Don fell like he was choking. He almost passed out before it stopped. His body felt like lead again, but now he was trembling. Shaking uncontrollably.

When he looked up, he saw Mike standing next to him, his eyes full of concern. Don found the strength and rolled over so he was facing the wall, so he couldn't breathe on his brother. "No." Then after he gathered his strength, "I don't want you to get sick too."

Mike pulled him back over so he could look him in the face. "I've been taking care of Splinter too. If you've got it, so do I. But why didn't I get sick?"

Don felt shame burn his cheeks. "I didn't sleep much for the last week. I figured there were just more important things to do. That's probably why. Stupid mistake on my part."

"Well, if you hadn't worked, we wouldn't have the medicine for Splinter. I'll see if April can get some for you."

"Too expensive," Don said. "We don't have enough money to treat us both. Just treat Splinter. I'm younger. I have a better shot of getting through this without meds."

"Donny," Mike said, looking at him like he was a toddler asking to stay up late.

"Don't Donny me," Don said with some spirit. "This is the most logical course of action.

"To let you die?" Mike asked, with a disbelieving look.

Don sighed "It's not necessarily a death sentence." But then he broke off and coughed again until he there was a metallic taste in his mouth. He knew it was blood. The look on Mikey's face sealed it.

"I can fight this. Splinter might not be able to. We can't afford the drugs and we'll need to be on them for months. But can you do something for me?"

"Anything dude."

"Call my boss, tell him that I'm sick and I'll need some time off. Just call the main line. Whoever's there will relay the message."

"No worries. I've got it."

"Thanks," Don said, yawning and sinking lower into the bed. "I guess I'll sleep now."

"Hey, hang on," Mike said, giving him a quick shake. "Can we test for it?"

Don nodded, but his eyes shut anyway. "There are tests for it. But you probably can't buy them. You'll have to acquire them in a less conventional way."

Don was very nearly asleep, but he heard Mikey say, "Good thing I'm a ninja." Then Mike gave a sharp cry of pain and yelled, "Raph."

Don smiled as he left sleep overtake him.

* * *

Mike found himself being drug backwards by his headband. "I was talking to Donny," Mike said, when he regained his feet in the living room.

"He needs his sleep. And we're having a family meeting," Raph said. "And since you are one of the only other family member who ain't at death's door, Leo thought you should come."

"Something like that," Leo said. He was sitting on the couch, but when Mike came in, he got up and started pacing the room.

Raph gave Mike a half shove into the couch, and Mike dropped into it, wondering why on earth they needed a formal family meeting. Raph sat down next to him.

"So," Leo began, "the way I see it, we have two major problems."

"Two?" Mike asked. At last count he only had one.

"Yes, two. First of all, our enemy has a super weapon of some sort, and they know that we know about it."

"Great job, Raph," Mike muttered. Raph scowled at him.

"Secondly, Don and Splinter…" Leo trailed off with a pained look.

"Yeah," Raph agreed, looking equally upset, "Not good."

"So we need to figure out options for each problem," Leo said, looking them over. "I need ideas, I need inspiration. I need…" and he broke off again

"Donny," Mike supplied with a sigh.

"Yeah, well, that. But I'm not going to get that. So what have you guys got?"

Mike glanced at Raph who looked back blankly. Nothing. Neither of them had anything.

"All I can think to do is watch the Purple Dragons and prepare ourselves for a possible attack," Leo said after the silence got long.

"How's that supposed to help Master Splinter and Donny?" Mike asked.

"I'll do it," Raph volunteered, standing up.

"What?" Mike asked.

"I can't help Splinter or Donny. But that I can do. I can watch the Purple Dragons. Then I can let you guys know if we're going to be attacked," Raph said.

"But dude, last time you almost got us killed," Mike protested.

"And I learned my lesson," Rath retorted. "I won't let it happen again. That leaves you two to figure out how to help Splinter and Donny. Besides, this is my mess… I'll fix it."

"That sounds like a good idea," Leo said slowly. "Watch their movements. Call me on your shell cell every hour, so I know you're okay."

Raph nodded and then headed toward the door.

"Oh and Raph," Leo said to his back. "Do not engage them. Surveillance only."

Raph shrugged so Leo repeated the message, only louder.

"Fine, Leo," Raph said with an angry stare. "I won't attack."

Mike watched him leave with a sick feeling in his stomach. After the door clanged shut behind him, Mike turned to Leo and said, "Yeah, right. He might make it a whole two hours before he gets into a fight."

"Well," Leo shrugged, "Maybe, but he's not going to be any help if we keep him around here. At least on guard duty he'll keep busy, and hopefully keep the Purple Dragons off our back.

"If they're on it in the first place," Mike said, sighing. The purple dragons didn't really seem like a problem when they were facing the very real chance that both Donny and Splinter could die. Somehow, the fact that Donny could die spooked him more than Splinter. Not that he loved either of them more than the other. But Splinter was old, and Donny was young. Don had so much life ahead of him and it wasn't fair that he might be cut down before it even began.

"So you talked to Don. Did he say what we should do to help him… them?" Leo asked.

Mike sighed, "Yes he did. He told me to give Splinter medicine. He said it might takes months to get it under control and he told me that we couldn't afford to treat them both. He told me… you'll love this… that it was more logical to treat Splinter, since he was younger and had a better chance of fighting it off."

"Isn't it fatal?" Leo asked.

Mike shrugged, "I really don't know dude. Don didn't seem to think it was necessarily a death sentence, but then again, he knows a lot more than he ever tells us."

"Yeah, I know," Leo said, sighing himself and dropping down on the couch.

"Do you know what to do to help them?" Mike asked, hopeful.

"No. I don't. The only guy who might know can't help himself," Leo said, looking sad.

Mike felt a cold pit in his stomach. "So we're just going to let them die?"

"No," Leo said with some spirit. "We just have to figure it out."

"So what do we do?" Mike asked again.

"I don't know," Leo said, fidgeting. "Maybe I should go and help Raph."

"What?" Mike said, anger replacing his dread. " Helping Don and Splinter is more important than watching a bunch of punks."

"Yeah, I agree with you, but I don't know what to do. What do you think?" Leo asked, looking more helpless than Mike had ever seen him.

"Well, we get them tested for it for one. And then we get them medicine for two," Mike shot out.

"But how?" Leo said, standing up again. "We aren't doctors and we can't take them to a doctor."

"Don told me about a test. If we get it, I bet he can help us figure it out. Then we can get the drugs and treat them."

"How do we do that?" Leo asked.

"Well, if we can't buy them, we'll steal them. Dude, we're ninjas. I think we could steal a handful of drugs without a problem."

Leo shrugged again. "I don't like it. Stealing isn't honorable."

"I don't like it either. But I'd rather be a thief than face the rest of my life without Donny or Splinter."

"Yeah, you're right. You're right. We'll get them what they need." Leo said, a steely edge in his voice. "Let's get ready."

"There is something I have to do first," Mike said.

"All right. Be ready to roll in thirty."

Mike nodded and then headed back to the kitchen, to his Cowbunga Carl phone. He quickly dialed the number listed on the phone list in the kitchen. A guy picked up.

"Computer technical services, this is Ron," the voice said, in a tired monotone. "How can I help you?"

"Actually, I don't have a computer question," Mike said tentatively.

The voice on the other end sounded defeated, "You aren't trying to sell me something are you?"

"No," Mike answered.

"You're not going to ask me out are you?" the voice asked, concerned.

"Dude, I'm a guy," Mike answered.

"You think that stops some people." He answered. "What do you want?"

"I think you know my brother Don. He works there."

"Yeah, Don Hamato. He's a good guy, we talk quite a bit. You're Don's brother? He's has like three brothers. Which one are you… Not the one that disappeared for two years?"

"No," Mike chuckled. "That's Leo. I'm Mike."

"Are you the one that eats all the food, sleeps all day, and spends all night out at the bar, getting into fights."

Mike shook his head, "No, that's Raph."

"So you're his younger brother?"

"Yeah," Mike said.

"Man, I couldn't imagine having that many brothers. The way Donny talks, you guys drive him crazy. But I think part of that was because your oldest brother took off and sort of left him on the hook for everything."

That was true. But Don had never said that, at least not to him. Never even uttered a word about how Leo had left him hanging. But Mike knew that it had bothered him. "How do you know all of this?"

"Don and I IM most of the shifts when we work together. He's wicked funny, your brother. Always good for a laugh."

"Donny?" Mike asked. That might have fit his brother a few years ago, but not the guy he knew now.

"Yeah, he's a crack up. What's up though? Why are you calling me?"

"He's sick," Mike said.

"So he's not going to work tonight?"

"Not tonight, not tomorrow, probably not for the next several weeks."

"What's wrong?"

Mike considered for a minute, and then realized that Don, if he made it out of this alive, would talk with this guy again, they were probably even friends. And if Mike lied, then it would make things complicated for Don later. Besides, this guy obviously knew certain details about their lives, what was one more?

"So did you know that my oldest brother Leo came back?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, Don mentioned it."

"Do you know where he came back from?" Mike continued.

"Don told me, it was like South America right?"

"Central America. He was in the jungles of Central America. Which is why we couldn't find him and why we lost contact for so long."

"What does this have to do with Don being sick?"

"Well, after Leo got back, he had what we thought was a cold. He had a fever for a few days, slept a lot, but he got better pretty quickly, so no one thought much about it. I mean, after he got back he and my brother Raph really got into it. Don and I just thought it was the stress of everything."

"And Raph is the next oldest? I never quite got that straight. How old is Raph anyway? Aren't he and Don about the same age."

Mike froze. Then he decided to play dumb, "I can't remember. They're both older than me."

"Well," the guy on the other end said, "Me and Don are the same age…. So like 22. It's both of our first crappy ass jobs out of college."

Mike picked up on that, "Well, that would make Raph 23. He and Don are about a year apart."

"Anyways, you were saying?"

Mike continued, "Well, Leo came back and he was sick. But we didn't think it was serious. But our dad got sick about a week ago, and I mean sick, high fever, not eating, hardly drinking kind of sick. Yesterday Donny came down with it too. Well, really he got it about the same time as my dad, but he didn't slow down until he literally collapsed."

"Is he okay?" the guy on the phone asked his voice sounding anxious.

"Well, we're sitting waiting for some tests to come back, but we think it might be tuberculosis. We think that Leo brought it back from Central America."

"Ouch."

"As it stands right now, Don can barely keep his eyes open, much less work. He probably should be hospitalized but we can't afford that."

"Yeah, he told me that he was the only one in your family that worked. But you know, Don does have health insurance. It's crappy, but it would probably be enough to cover some of the hospital bills."

Mike thought fast, "Well, I don't think we could afford to take him to the hospital even with insurance, you know."

"What? So, you're just going to let him die?" the voice on the other end sounded incredulous.

"It's not that simple," Mike shot back.

"Well, it should be. Look, I'll tell my supervisor that's Don's out for awhile. But call me when you get more news. Please. Let him know I'm thinking of him. He's one of the only cool guys around this place."

"Yeah, sure. I'll call you when we know more."

They said their goodbyes and Mike hung up the phone and leaned his head against the wall. The guy was right. It shouldn't matter what the cost. TB was a treatable disease. There shouldn't be any reason to not get Don treated. No matter what it cost, money or otherwise. Mike looked up to see Leo staring at him from across the kitchen.

Leo tossed Mike his nunchunks. "Let's get the supplies we need, before Raph gets in trouble."

"Right," Mike said, and they headed out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Leo popped up out of a manhole on east 57th street. The medical warehouse was still there, the massive Hudson river behind it. Thanks to the polluted river, the air didn't smell the greatest. The warehouse itself looked rundown. The metal walls were starting to rust and the neon sign over the front door had lost several bulbs, so the only letters visible were an A and a T. The street was devoid of streetlamps and the only half of the ones it did have were still working.

Even so, Leo's heart raced at the sight of it. It was still there. A solid unchanged piece of his old life. He had told Mikey it was there, and it was still there.

Mike joined him on the asphalt and glanced up. "Dude, it's huge," he commented rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah," Leo agreed. "They should have everything we need."

"I guess," Mike said.

Leo started headed toward the side of the building with Mike at his side They rounded a corner and saw a large bank of trailers and doors with the river just behind. Two men were standing beside a semi-truck, looking at a clipboard with a flashlight. The door behind the truck was open and waiting.

Leo pointed to it and gave Mike a nod. Mike nodded back. Leo picked up a rock off the ground and threw it over the men's heads. It hit a trailer with a small clang. The men looked up from there clipboards and Leo gestured that Mike should go. Like a gazelle Mike jumped in the open door with nary a sound. Leo followed.

Leo spotted Mike heading toward some towering shelves and he followed him. They regrouped between two racks that were three stories tall. It was almost comforting, being dwarfed by the massive structures on both sides. It felt a bit like the jungle.

Mike openly gaped, like he couldn't believe his eyes. Even Leo had to admit it was impressive. From the outside the building looked a bit decrypted. On the inside, it was a state of the art inventory system, complete with robotic lifters and loaders. The floor was enlaid with railroad tracks. At least a half mile away, still in the building, there was an empty robotic lift, standing perfectly still, blinking with steady red lights.

"So," Mike began looking around him and up and down, "How exactly are we going to find what we need?"

That was a good question and one that Leo only had a vague answer. "I was hoping to find the location, scale the racks, and take what we need."

"Not a bad plan except for the find the location part," Mike said, turning his head back and forth.

"Maybe if we found a computer and looked it up," Leo suggested. He started down the long aisle.

Mike trailed after him, "If you're expecting me to go all Donny for you, I've got news, that isn't going to happen."

"I'm not expecting you to go all Donny," Leo said, shaking his head.

"Then which one of the two of us is going to hack into the computer system to find what we need. We'll never be able to find it without some sort of help."

Leo had to admit that Mike was right. The building had to be at least a half mile long and almost as wide. Each of the aisles had three stories of goods, stacked neatly into racks that had up to fifteen shelves. They were standing in what looked like an aisle for screws. Each box had a picture of some type of screw, bolt, or nail. Leo never realized there were so many types of screws, much less that there were so many of them on the entire planet. It was mind boggling.

Just as Leo found a computer and started staring at it like it could help him, his shell cell rang. It was Raph.

"What's up?" Leo asked.

The reply was garbled but Leo made out one word, "Help."

Leo hung up and stared back at Mikey. "We got to go." Leo headed straight down the aisle that they came from.

"Why? What happened" Mikey asked, looking concerned, trailing after him.

"Raph's in trouble."

Mike grabbed his arm. "What about Donny and Splinter?"

"What about them?" Leo asked.

"They're dying. We have to help them. We have to find what we need here," Mike said.

"Yeah, I know. But Raph is immediate danger. The only word that I could make out clearly was help. Coming from Raph, that's bad."

"We can't give up on Donny and Splinter. We're here."

"We're not giving up. We'll come back. Raph's in trouble, right now. "

"Splinter and Donny are too," Mike said, stopping in the aisle.

Leo took another few steps and then turned to look at him. "Look, if you have a suggestion, I'll take it."

To his surprise, Mike spoke up without hesitation. "You go get Raph, I'll figure this out."

Leo weighed that, "But what if I need you?"

"Then call me, I'll come," Mike said calmly. "But these are the Purple Dragons, not the Foot. If Raph really is in trouble, you can get him out of there without my help. And I can do this. I know I can."

Leo looked and saw an older version of the Michelangelo he used to know. One who could figure stuff out for himself. One who was more confident, more assured, more calm. The turtle that stood in front of him wasn't his kid brother, just his brother. His brother had grown up. "All right. Go for it. See you at home."

Mike flashed him a quick grin and then disappeared into the maze of shelving.

Leo turned and ran out of the warehouse at a sprint, heading again to the headquarters of the purple dragons. He felt a bit like a yo-yo, always heading back to the same place.

* * *

Mike headed away from Leonardo feeling somewhere between angry and overwhelmed. Yeah Raph was in trouble. But when wasn't Raph in trouble? Mike had told Leo not to send Raph on that mission, that Raph would get in a fight, that Raph would get himself into trouble. And what happened? Raph got into a fight, Raph got into trouble, big surprise.

But despite what he had told Leo, he had no idea what to do for Donny or Splinter. He wandered aimlessly through the warehouse, looking in bins, scaling the shelves to peer in baskets, and hoping beyond hope that the answer would jump out at him.

The only thing that did jump out at him was robotic lifter, and it started beeping when it bumped in to him. Which set off alarms, which forced Mike out of the building.

He stood by the river, taking in it's pungent smell, trying to regroup, or just group, it wasn't like they ever had a plan. Mike picked up a piece of gravel and pitched into the black water in front of him. It hit with a small thunk, barely audible over the building alarms that were still going off behind him. He needed drugs, he needed tests, he had their names, but it didn't help. It would take a year to find what he needed in that warehouse, even if he didn't set off the security system.

No scratch that. It would take Donny under a hour to figure it all out. Him on the other hand… he'd be lucky to find it in three reincarnated lifetimes.

But as he and Leo had discussed earlier that night, they wouldn't find both the drugs and the tests anywhere else. Mike looked down at the names of what they needed on the paper. A hospital might have them both, but not in the quantities that they needed. A drugstore would have the drugs, but not the tests. Mike picked up another rock and threw it in water. It landed with a nice splash, sending glittering ripples in every direction. Mike turned around. The building alarms had stopped.

Mike turned and approached the warehouse again from the other side. There were some portside docks on the river. One of them hadn't been properly closed. Light shown through the bottom 24 inches of the overhead door. Mike studied it for a second and then glanced at his own shell. Totally doable.

With a quick burst of speed, Mike darted toward the gap. As he neared the door, he dove like a baseball player and neatly slid underneath it. He bounced to his feet, shuffled sideways behind some palletized loads and took in his surrounding again. There wasn't a noticeable difference from the other side of the building. The fixtures threw a dim yellow light everywhere, there was no one around, and there were miles of shelves, all three stories tall.

Mike sprinted into the nearest aisle and once again started wandering around. He managed to get halfway down one aisle before he ran into another one of the robots. The alarms all sounded again, red lights flashed, and Mike was forced to run for cover. This time, instead of ducking out of the building, he stashed himself, in the fifth tier of shelves, twenty feet off the ground, about fifty feet from the spastic machine.

Two operators showed up in a what looked like motorized scooters.

"Damn, this is the second time in ten minutes," the one said to the other.

"Same thing again. A proximity alarm. Either we have bird problem or the thing is malfunctioning."

"But this isn't the same unit."

"All the same, I think I'll put in a maintenance request. I've got better things to do then chase down malfunctioning robots."

"Agreed," the other man said. It took a few minutes, but eventually the lights and alarms stopped.

They left in their Vespas heading off down the cross aisle leaving Mike still wedged in his hiding place, his foot falling asleep.

As soon as he jumped down, the robot, now about twenty feet away, stopped again, sirens and lights all over again.

Mike's mumbled curse was echoed by the yell of the operators a couple of aisles over. There was nothing left to do. Mike sprinted away. He headed for the nearest door, and slammed it open, setting off the rest of the building alarms. He didn't stop running until he got to the bank of the river. Disgusting as it was, he waded out ten feet and swam 300 yards upriver. He pulled himself out under a dock of a nearby building.

He shivered as he sat in the muck at the river's edge. It was no good. He couldn't get within twenty feet of those damn robots without setting off an alarm. He hadn't been in the building more than five minutes either time before running into one of them. There must be hundreds of the things.

What he needed was a time when they all were turned off. That would be the only way to do any kind of search. But it was two am on a Sunday morning. If they were still on now, there would never be a time when they would all be off.

Had Donny been there, he could have reprogrammed them or shut them all down, or made all their gizmos go gaga. Had Leo been there, he would have figured out a plan of some kind, or at least he would have pretended that he did. Even Raph would have made it further than he did, granted, all the robots would have been destroyed and someone would have noticed. Mike did feel a bit more sympathy for Raph getting caught in the security camera. Sometimes you just can't figure out all of the security measures in time.

Mike sat up straight. That was it. The answer he needed. Granted it wouldn't be easy to get, but it would be easier to get it then the drugs. And added bonus, Leo and Raph were right now giving him ample opportunity to sneak in unnoticed. He pulled himself off the ground and ran towards his brothers and unknown to either of them, his other brother's only hope.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Leo, winded, arrived at the warehouse of the Purple Dragon within fifteen minutes of Raph's call. The outside of the building was quiet. He jumped to the fire escape, and made it to the top of the building. He peered in the skylight. The room was black, the only light was coming from the moon shining over his head.

Odd. Definitely odd. Leo flipped open his phone and hit the tracker on Raph. Leo studied it with concern. Raph was miles away, to the Northeast. It would have been a lot faster if Leo had checked where Raph was before heading back to the warehouse. Leo jumped back on the fire escape and hit the ground with a whisper. He started off toward Raph and his garbled plea for help. But where the heck was he? And what was the problem?

* * *

Raph for his part needed more help than he had ever needed in his whole life. Splinter laid in his bed, frail, and shaking. His furry body experienced one tremor after another after another.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Raph yelled at his brother.

When he got no response, he turned to where his younger brother had recently been standing only to find him clutching his head in both hands.

Raph stood frozen. The only part of him able to move was his eyes, which flicked from his brother to his father and back again. As his eyes sighted Donatello, he realized he was too late. Donny crumpled in front of him, falling to the floor with a dull thud.

With a glance back at Splinter, Raph rushed to Don's side, kneeling next him. Raph quickly, and none to gently, flipped his brother onto his back. His first aid skills told him that Don was still breathing, and a steady pulse beat under his fingers. Just fainted.

From the bed, Splinter gave another low grunt . Raph jumped up, and headed back to the bed. His sensei writhed, his fur rippling in pain. After a moment or two, it seemed to pass and his father sunk lower into the bed.

Raph's heart was racing. His gut was filled with liquid fear. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know if there was anything that he could do.

Splinter moaned again in pain and Raph did the only thing he could think of, he grabbed his father's hand. While Splinter groaned and twisted, Raph held his hand and stroked the fur along his forehead. Just as quickly as it had come, it passed again. And Splinter slumped forward.

Raph took a chance glance at Donatello, to see if there was any hope of help from that quarter. Instead, he dropped Splinter's hand and raced back over to his brother. Don's entire body was glistening. His eyes were open, but they were glassy. He had rolled to his side and started to cough, a sound that was so awful, it sent shivers up and down Raph's spine.

"Easy buddy," Raph said, putting a hand on Don's shell.

Don continued to cough. Then Splinter started to moan in pain again. Raph raced back to Splinter, once again grabbing his hand and trying to soothe the pain. After Splinter had again succumbed, Raph went back to Don, who was still hacking.

In between the coughs, Don managed to choke out, "Help me up."

Raph grabbed him by the armpits and pulled him into a sitting position. He then dragged Don backward and propped him up against a wall. That was in time for Splinter to moan again. Raph was about to leave Don to go back to Splinter, when he felt a hand grab his arm.

"You have to take care of him," Don said, focusing his dulled eyes on Raph. "I can't do it anymore. And it'd be too hard… on Mikey… You have too, Raph."

"What are you talking about?" Raph demanded.

"I can't breath," Don said in a hoarse whisper. "This thing is eating me from the inside. And Splinter isn't young. Don't you see?"

"See what?" Raph said, as if he were drowning. Part of him thought he knew what Don was going to say, and that part of him wanted to bolt out the door and run until find someone to fight.

"We're dying, Raph. You have to take care of Splinter. It would destroy Mikey. You've got to take care of it and then take care of Mikey. You're all Mikey'll have left."

"What?" Raph said. That did not make sense, even for Donny's standards.

Don's hand dropped from Raph's forearm, like he didn't have the strength to hold it anymore. In something just above a whisper Don said, "Take care of Mikey, Raph. You have to take care of Mikey. You're all he has left."

Raph stared incredulously into his brother's face, "He has you, bonehead. And Leo."

With that, tears started down Don's cheeks. "Leo." Don repeated the name several more times. "Leo's gone. He's not coming back."

Raph puzzled over that before giving his brother's shoulder a quick shake. "No, Leo's back. He came back. In fact, I called him about twenty minutes ago, I figured he be here by now."

Don shook his head, a wild panic filled his brown eyes. "Leo's gone. He told me to take of things for him. But I can't now. It has to be you. You have to take of Mikey. You have to help Splinter, help him die in peace and without pain. I promised I would. I promised, Raph."

"Donatello," Raph said in a good impersonation of tone that Splinter used when he was annoyed with Donny. "Leo is fine, he's back. He'll be here soon."

Don just shook his head no, the tears spilling in his lap. Then the effort of talking seemed to tax him of everything he had. Don's head lolled backward and rested against the wall. His eyes closed.

Raph stood up again and looked down at his younger brother. Don's face was covered in sweat and yet his body shivered, as if he were cold. Raph laid his hand on Don's forehead. He was feverish, which was probably why he was talking jibberish.

Splinter gasped again and Raph returned to his side, taking his hand again.

Splinter looked up into Raph's face and begged, "Please Raphael, please. Get your brother Donatello. I need him my son. I need him."

"He can't, master," Raph said as gently as he knew how. "He's sick. He can't come."

"Please Raphael," Splinter insisted. "He has drugs to make the pain go away. I have battled for so long. All day. It's not getting better. If he has something, I will take it now. Please get him. Have him get the medicine." Then Splinter writhed again in pain. "Please my son. Please."

Raph turned toward Don, looked back at Splinter and said, "I'll, I'll… do something."

As the final words left his mouth Raph felt his eyes burn. The burning turned to stinging and the wetness gathered at the corners. He tore from the room and headed straight for the dojo. He grabbed the weapon's rack and through it down, yelling for all he was worth. He grabbed his weights and threw them across the room. He attacked his punching bag for several long minutes, tears flowing down both of his cheek as he hit and raged against the bag. Against his own helplessness.

A voice, quiet but clear, spoke up behind him, "Feel better?"

Raph spun on the spot to see Don sitting against the door frame. Don was still covered in sweat, and he was panting like he had run a mile. Raph was incapable of answering for almost a minute. How in the hell did he get here? After his head cleared that was the first question he asked.

Don shrugged and said grimly, "Let me have my dignity all right?"

"What?" Raph asked, confused. Don still wasn't making sense. Then irrational anger replaced his confusion. He hated it when Donny lorded over him. Then he was angry at himself for being angry at his brother who didn't look strong enough to stand. Raph spit out, "I'm putting you back to bed and you will stay there." Raph stalked over to him and stooped to pull up his brother.

Don tried to push his hands away, "Would you please listen to me?"

"No," Raph said, "You aren't making any sense. You're rambling. You're sick. But I ain't going to listen to it. I've listened to you enough. You're driving me nuts."

Raph hauled him to his feet, but it didn't go as planned. Don knees buckled immediately and he almost fell. Raph caught him under the arm and half dragged, half carried Don to his bedroom.

"No, not here," Don said, trying to pulling himself backward. "My lab."

"No!" Raph nearly yelled. "You ain't working, you're going to rest and you're going to get better."

Don regarded him from his half upright position and said, panting, "We could get Splinter… the meds he needs. Let me… help him."

Raph looked to the room where Splinter was resting and then back to his brother. He hauled Don back to his feet and headed to the lab.

When they got there, Donny directed Raph to the medicine cabinet, and directed him to the morphine. Don talked Raph through getting the dosage prepared, but when he started to explain how to give it, Raph balked.

"No way. I'm not injecting anyone with anything. You do it," Raph said.

Don sighed, "Fine. Help me get there?"

Raph nodded and together they headed back to their father. Raph helped Don to the side of their father's bed and with clearly trembling, clammy fingers, Donny gave Splinter the dose. The affect was almost immediate. Within seconds, the pain lines eased from Splinter's face.

Splinter reached out and grabbed Don's hand and in a whisper said, "Thank you my son. Thank you."

When Don didn't answer, Raph looked down to see Don's eyes fluttering. Raph grabbed his shoulder and pulled him upright. The sudden shift in position was too much for Don, his eyes closed abruptly and he fell into Raph in a dead faint. Sighing, Raph carried Don to his bedroom and put him on his bed. He covered his brother with a blanket and started to leave the room, but before he could, he heard Don say his name.

Raph whirled around. Don was reaching for him, "Please, I need to talk to you. It's important and I don't know how much longer I've got. Please Raph. Raphie, please."

The last word was said with a pleading note and Don hadn't called him Raphie since they were ten.

Raph turned and walked back to his brother's bed as Don struggled and failed to sit up.

"What?" Raph asked.

Don stared at him for a minute and then finally said, "There is so much you need to know. I just never thought… it would be like this."

"What are you talking about?"

Don stared at him for a minute, like he was steeling himself and then he said, "Do you know why Splinter put me in charge when Leo left?"

Raph felt his shoulders tense and his stomach knot. Sore topic. He'd bitched endlessly to Mike about it in the months following Leo's departure. But when he started being Nightwatcher, he stopped thinking about it so much. He thought he knew why Splinter chose Donatello over him, and he hated Donny for it. Or at least he hated that Don was all those things that Splinter prized and he, the rightful second in command, wasn't. Just thinking about it made more anger, this time, tinted with bitterness. Resentment bubbled to the surface of his thoughts.

When Raph didn't answer, Don continued, "It's not for the reasons you think. It really isn't. But even now, those reasons are moot since my lungs are being eaten, maybe…" Don broke off and coughed again.

Raph stared at him, lividly angry. It took every bit of his willpower not to leave. Every horrible thing he had thought, every crappy thing Don had done to him, every bitter moment, came back to Raph in succession, like a movie reel.

But still Raph stood rooted to the spot. There was something in Don's tone and in Don's eyes told him that he couldn't leave.

In a weaker voice Don said, "As second oldest, you are the rightful second in command of our clan. Had Leo not come back, I intended to turn the control of our clan over to you."

Raph couldn't accept that as truth, because if it were true, Don would have turned control over to him months and months ago. But he also knew that Don didn't lie, at least about something this important. Some of his anger leaked out. "But then why were you put in charge in the first place. The leadership was mine, it should have been mine."

"I know. I told Splinter that when he told me what he was going to do. But Splinter did what he did for a reason. For a long time now, he's been preparing us… me and Leo anyway… for his death. That's why he sent Leo away in the first place, so that Leo would get used to making decisions on his own. That's why he put me in charge here, to prepare me for…"

Raph stared at Don as he lapsed into silence. When he didn't finish his last sentence, Raph prompted, "Prepare you for what?"

"Be strong when your brother's are weak," Don murmured more to himself that to Raph, but something about the words made Don sit up. He was shaking and still sweating, but he sat on his bed, meeting Raph's stare head on. "Splinter wanted, wants me to…"

Don broke off again.

"What?" Raph asked, "It can't be that bad." But even as Raph said the words, his stomach clenched.

Don took a deep breath and said, "Splinter wants me to help him die. He put everything in place so that when his end approaches, I'd be able to help him leave his life with peace and dignity. He wanted me to be in charge for awhile so that when the time came, I'd be able convince the three of you to let him go. He thought by making me the leader for a short span of time, I would be able to convince you and Leo to follow his wishes. Whatever they might be. And whatever he decided, he expected me to carry through for him.

"What?" Raph said, feeling horrified.

"He wants me to be prepared to end his life, if he asks me too."

"He wants you to kill him?"

"Not exactly," Don said, breaking eye contact and then he amended, "At least I hoped it would never come to that."

Don looked so defeated and weak that Raph sat down next to him on the bed. A cool water was dumped over flames inside him. He discovered that he couldn't hold on to his anger at Don and feel sorry for him at the same time.

Raph asked, "Why are you telling me this now? Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Well, for one, you weren't in the mood to listen. And for two, it hardly mattered. It was only for six months. But Leo screwed it all up by not coming back. Then you started "nightwatching" and essentially disappeared. I didn't know what to do. All I could do was hope that Leo came back. I knew if he didn't and I faced the end of Splinter's life with just you and Mikey, it would destroy us. I didn't know which one of us would crack first or which of us Mike would side with, but it would have happened." Don broke off and started coughing again.

That was true. If Splinter had died with the way things were before Leo came back, he would have torn Don apart. Raph reached out and put a steadying hand on Don's neck. "Easy buddy. So if something had actually happened actually to Leo, Splinter wouldn't have left you in charge."

Don shook his head no. "He made that pretty clear to me. Not once, but many times." He leaned his head back and it fell against the wall. "He has been upset with me now for almost a year and a half, ever since Leo didn't come home. I haven't been able to do anything right."

Raph digested that for a minute. "What about Fearless? I thought he choose you too."

"Well," Don said, with a resigned sigh, "He did. Because he knew damn well that I wouldn't want to keep it after he was back. He couldn't exactly give up his place in the family to the person he won it from in the first place."

Something inside Raph grew stronger, more solid. But as the feeling grew in him, it seemed that Don shrank. Don laid down on the bed again, coughing weakly. For the first time in almost two years, Raph remembered the Donny was younger than he was. He remembered feeling protective of him, since he had always been the weakest of his brothers. Had it really been that long since they talked?

Don continued, "There is a wooden box under my bed. I want you to have it."

"You aren't dying, Donatello," Raph said his Splinter voice again. "I'm not taking your stuff."

"It isn't mine. It's ours. All of ours. Yours, mine, Leo's and Mikey's. Leo left it in my care when he left. He forgot about it, along with a whole lot of other things."

Curious, although determined not to accept anything from Donny while he was in this state, Raph pulled out a battered wooden box. He lifted the lid and found a piece of worn white linen inside. He picked it up and saw to his shock Japanese writing, the name of Hamoto Yoshi, painted in Yoshi's own hand. One of their clan's only relics. "Leo gave this to you?"

Don whispered now, "Right before he left. Apparently, Splinter gave it to him on his 16th birthday, when Leo officially became the heir of the clan. I don't know why Leo gave it to me. It didn't make any sense at the time. But when he didn't come back, and I started to wonder if he ever meant to return. He was probably as lost as I was, not really understanding what Splinter meant to do. I bet he sat in that forest trying to figure out what lesson he was supposed to learn. The key that would make him a perfect leader. Since he has been back, he's forgotten it about it. He should have reclaimed it. But he hasn't."

"Why don't you give it back to him?" Raph asked, a bit confused.

"I just can't. Leo… he isn't the same. I mean, he is, but he isn't with it… or something..."

"So if you haven't given him back his position, who's is in charge?"

"Splinter," Don said automatically.

"And then?" Raph asked, his forehead creasing.

"By honor code, it's still me. I can't in good faith give it back to Leo until he's ready. But there might not be time. And there is no way that Leo could do the rest of the things that I need to do. The only one who can is you Raph." Don's whole body went limp as he said it. But with another effort he said, "You have to help Splinter Raph. Now that you know what I promised. You have to make sure that it is carried out."

Raph nearly jumped off the bed. "I can't do that. That's why he asked you to do it. You will do it. None of the rest of us could."

Don opened his eyes and gave Raph a mournful look. A look that Raph had often seen on Mikey, but for very different reasons.

"And if I can't?" Don asked, tears now joining the sweat on his face.

"You will," Raph insisted.

"And if I can't?" Don repeated.

"You will."

"But if I die? Will you help Splinter?" Don's eyes pleaded with him.

Raph put the linen back in the box and grabbed Don's hand. "You're not dying." But even as he said it, he felt his brother's clammy hands, his trembling fingers, and saw the shiver rack his frame. And he repeated, "You're not dying." But somewhere inside he knew he was wrong.

* * *

Leo found Raph sitting cross legged in the dojo, which was a mess. The weapon's rack was on the floor, the weapons themselves scattered around. Weights were strewn from one end of the place to the other.

Leo had just chased Raph from one end of Manhattan to the other thinking his life was on the line, only to find him sitting cool, collected, and in no danger, in the dojo, which he must have personally trashed.

"What the hell, Raph" Leo said when he found him. "It took me almost forty-five minutes to find you. And you're at home, destroying the lair. You said you needed help. I thought you were under attack. I was trying to find medicine for Don and Splinter. I left Mike alone there."

Raph looked up. He was fingering something in his hand. A glance at Raph's lap, made every nerve prick up on Leo's back. Raph set the cloth back in it's box and stood up to face Leo.

After a minute Raph said in a eerily calm voice, "Don called me. He said that Splinter was in pain, and he needed help. Not very responsible of us, leaving Donny to take care of Splinter when he's so sick."

"Are they okay?" Leo said concern flooding out every other thought in his head.

"No, they're nothing like okay. Splinter is in a lot of pain. With my help, Donny was able to get him some medicine. Then I put Don to bed. With any luck, they're both going to sleep for a long time." Raph said flatly and he broke eye contact with Leo. He picked up the box again, holding it in a way where Leo could see it but not touch it.

Satisfied that no one was in immediate danger, Leo returned his attention to… "The box," Leo breathed. "Where did you get it?"

"Don gave it to me," Raph said, meeting Leo confused gaze. "He thinks he's going to die. Problem is, he's right more often than he's wrong."

Leo felt his stomach clench with icy fear. But he felt something else as he started at Raph and the box. A feeling that was so strange he couldn't identify it. Was it jealousy, resentment, doubt? "Why did he give it to you? It's rightfully mine."

"Is it? Or is it Don's? Or is it mine?" Raph said, still looking at it. "If you gave it to him and he gave it to me, does that make me the leader of our clan?"

"It's just a symbol. I gave it to Donatello to boast his confidence." Leo said, shaking his head. "It's not the real thing. Splinter is the only one who can decide."

"Maybe, maybe not," Raph answered. "But if you are the leader of the clan, why did Don call me when he was in trouble? And did he give me this?"

Leo had no answer for that. He had thought that he and Don were close. In the past, Leo felt closer to Donatello than any of his other brothers. But since he'd been back, Don had been aloof. They hadn't had rooftop chats, or afternoon discussions. Don hadn't shown Leo any of his new inventions.

Raph stood up and watched back to the door with the box in his hands. "Well, I can tell you one thing, it's not because Don likes me better. When you were gone, he nagged at me more than you did, the little prick. And anything I gave you, was nothing in comparison to what I gave him. But I'm going to give this back to him. I don't want him thinking he can just lay down and die." He gestured over his shoulder. "Someone needs to stay with Splinter tonight. He's in a lot of pain. I'll go there now. Why don't you come around midnight. We'll switch off."

Leo watched as Raph walked away, pretty sure that he had just been ordered to help Splinter by his hotheaded, brash brother. What was the world the coming too?

* * *

The building was completely dark. Nice, Mike thought. He pulled out his locator. Leo and Raph were together, miles away. That was perfect. The Purple Dragons were gone and occupied, leaving no one at home to guard the alien technology. This would be simple. An easy theft that even the most basic of ninja's could do. Mike decided the skylight would be the easiest way in. He climbed the fire escape and peered into the dark building. Nothing. No movement, or sound, no light. Leo and Raph must have those guys under wraps. When the dragons did return home, they wouldn't be looking for another fight. Mike grinned inwardly. Perfect timing.


	8. Chapter 8

After Leo had collected his thoughts, and picked up the dojo to clear his head, he wandered into Don's room. Don was out cold, his breathing, a bit congested sounding, was soft and slow. Rarely did he see his younger brother like this, totally relaxed and calm.

But Leo wasn't calm. Don gave that box to Raph, instead of back to him. Leo felt a wave of bitterness. What was so great about Raph?

Then Splinter's words from the day before came to him. Apparently Don had been thinking the same kinds of things, or else he was feverish and half delirious.

But Leo didn't know what to think. He had spent two full years alone looking for the key that made him a good leader. But, though he hadn't admitted it to anyone, he hadn't found it. He probably could have stayed there for ten years and never figured it out. He sat down in the corner of his brother's room and started to mediate, again, on how to put his family first, and how to be the leader that they all would follow, that they all would respect.

* * *

Mike, focused on his self-appointed mission, wasn't thinking much at all. He dropped silently from the sky light to the building truss and scurried over to the service ladder. Unlike his earlier trip with Raph, he was as silent as Leo's room on a Friday night. He quickly crossed the arena to a series of corridors in the back.

Mike had never been back this way, but he figured if they had the technology that stopped Raph in his tracks, then it would be hidden somewhere around here. He quietly checked in half lit rooms, peeked around corners, and then found a staircase leading down.

Mike whispered down the steps in almost total darkness. After a turn, a bit of light, shocking in it's intensity, forced Mike to cover his eyes. He approached the bottom, still silent, and flattened himself against one of the walls. Even if Leo and Raph had most of them busy across town, they wouldn't leave that kind of technology unguarded.

Mike edged closer to the door, giving his eyes a second to adjust to the brilliant lights. His heart dropped into his stomach. At least a hundred teenagers and young adults were swarming around a state of the art lab, the kind of place that would make Don drool. They looked like crazed hummingbirds, buzzing around each piece of equipment in fast forward. Every so often, someone would hold up another weapon, and a kid would dart forward, grab it and put it into a huge crate at the back of the room.

The kids were moving so fast, it was hypnotic. Mike wasn't sure how long he stood there watching, trying to decide what to do. Should he continue on the mission, try to steal the device, or devices, that were allowing them to move like mice on caffeine, or should he back out, and regroup with his brothers at home?

"Memorizing isn't it?" a deep voice said from behind him.

Mike spun on the spot. Hun stood two stairs up, his massive body taking up the entire stairwell. Mike's first reaction was to swear loudly. But, his second reaction, which followed hard on the heels of the first, was that he wouldn't give Hun the satisfaction. Mike arranged a cocky grin on his face.

"Fancy meeting you here, Hun?" Mike said, grinning. "What drugs are you giving them anyway? No one you recruit would ever be able to move that fast on their own."

Hun's scowl deepened, but all of his muscles stayed rigid. "Too bad you'll never know."

"Oh come on," Mike said with an enthusiastic smile. "You're going to kill me anyway, right. You might as well tell me."

Hun returned the smile, as if he were agreeing with him. "I suppose that since it was your family that allowed us to find this technology, I should return the favor. Call it a debt, small debt, being paid."

Mike's grin cracked. His family did what?

Hun continued, "It's amazing what kids can find in the rubble of a building. And you just never know what kind stuff of that someone like Max Winters can think up. It took us awhile, but we were able to get this one figured out. With this kind of technology, it's no wonder that Winters had such a huge empire."

Mike studied Hun's eyes. Truth was there, as well as conceit. Hun told him the truth, but didn't expect him to live long enough to use it. Under the façade of checking the scene behind him, Mike hit the panic button on his shell cell. Don was out, but if he were lucky, Raph would get the signal and be on the way, estimated arrival time, probably about a half an hour. If he weren't lucky, and there could be a thousand reasons why, the signal would fall on deaf or unconscious ears. In either case, if he wanted to live, he would have to get out of this mess on his own.

* * *

Raph was on his own as well, but he was mediating in Splinter's room, something he had never done without being forced. Raph looked up when the door opened. Leo walked in, his shoulders straight and his arms folded across his chest. In almost every way, he was the Leo of their childhood. The brother he competed with endlessly, the one that bested him at every feat. It was the same Leo, straight as ever.

But there was something around the eyes that was different. His confidence, which before bubbled to the surface like a natural hot spring, seemed to have eroded away. It didn't seem to be getting better. Maybe that was why they were getting along better.

"How is he?" Leo asked quietly, sitting down on the cushions next to him.

Raph regarded him a few seconds before answering, "I really don't know. But since Donny gave him that shot of morphine, he seems to be more comfortable."

There was silence between them. A long quietness that was filled up by their father's illness.

Then abruptly, Leo said, "I don't what to do, Raph. I really don't."

Raph shot him a confused look, "What to do about what?"

Leo gestured around the room, "Everything. Master Splinter sent me away to become the leader of our clan. And I've failed Raph. I don't know how to be the leader. Splinter chose Don, Don choose you. Maybe you should be the leader of the clan"

Raph actually laughed out loud. "Do you listen to yourself talk? Do you have any idea how stupid that is?"

"You don't want to be the leader? We've been fighting about it since we were eight."

Raph gave himself a minute to sort out what he wanted to say, to sort out his thoughts from his hour sitting here alone. "We weren't fighting about that. We were fighting about who was better. But I've been thinking, since I've been sitting in here, that ain't either of us. While we were busy trying to be better than each other, who was really taking care of things?"

Leo's head dropped, "Donatello."

Raph nodded and added, "And Mikey. And I hated Donny for it. I hated Mikey for helping him. I hated you for leaving. I hated Splinter for not putting me in charge. I was so angry, all of the time. I treated them like crap."

Leo sighed, "Like I'm any better?"

"I never said you were, Fearless. Why did you stay so long anyways? It about killed Mikey when you didn't come back. Splinter got all depressed. I got even more pissed at you, and then even madder at Donny."

Leo shoulders sagged and he looked utterly defeated, "I never found what I was supposed to find. I never found what Splinter told me I was looking for, that spark inside me that would lead us to greatness."

Raph felt compassion tugging at his gut again. First Donatello, now Leonardo. Splinter had really worked them both over, without really knowing that he did. "Donny told me something in his room earlier tonight that you should know."

"Hmm?" Leo asked.

"Don said that all Splinter wanted to do was prepared you for when you would be leading without him. Splinter just wanted you to be able to make decisions on your own. That's why he sent you away."

Leo looked over with a look of shock, "Really? Don said that? Did Splinter tell him that?"

"When's brainaic ever been wrong?"

"Enough to get us in serious trouble," Leo said with a grin.

Raph returned the smile. "Splinter asked something even harder out of Donny. And that's why Donny gave me the box. Not to be leader, but to be him. Which is why I gave the damn thing back. He's not getting off that easy."

"What did Splinter want Don to do?"

"You don't want to know. But it doesn't matter. Don ain't dying. Neither is Splinter. We're going to forget about those stupid Purple Dragons and focus on getting them better."

"So what are we going to do?" Leo asked him.

"Strategizing is your department, Leo. Which is why you're the leader. My idea of a plan is running headlong into a building and trying to beat up everyone. Makes me feel better, but it's not going to fix this one. I follow you."

Leo gave him a long look and then said, "Thanks Raph. I needed that."

"But Donny and Splinter need medicine. So go figure it out."

"Right," Leo said with a smirk.

Just as he was walking out the door, Raph's shell cell started to beep. Raph snatched it up, hoping it wouldn't wake Splinter. He took once look at it and threw it over to Leo.

Leo caught it, looked down and paled. "Move Donny down here. Get him any meds he needs, and water, food, and extra blankets. If this goes badly, I'll need back-up. And if you have to leave, they'll at least be together."

Raph nodded. He stood up and started making a nest for Don on the floor next to Splinter's bed.

"If you haven't heard from me in thirty minutes, head out," Leo said, with a last fleeting look. "And Raph,"

"What?" Raph said, looking up.

"Thanks." And with that Leo left at a sprint.

Raph shook his head. Fearless always did have a complex.

* * *

Mike, on the other hand, was in complex situation. Two steps above him, Hun towered over him like a steroid gorilla. Behind him, over a hundred of the Purple Dragons buzzed around like paranoid hummingbirds. The stairwell was concrete on all sides, cinderblock walls and poured floor. Couldn't go up. Couldn't go down. Couldn't go right. Couldn't go left. Which way to go?

Mike smiled. It reminded him of a song he sometimes did with the kids at birthday parties. Going on a bear hunt… but I'm not afraid. There's a swamp. Can't go over it. Can't go around it. Have to go through it.

With a yell, Mike threw himself on the ground. His aim was true. He hit Hun straight in the shins with side of his shell. Then he slipped his arms behind Hun's knees. Before Hun knew what was going on, he fell face first into the concrete steps. Mike rolled up a couple of steps and then jumped to his feet and sprinted to the top of the stairs.

Loud explosions echoed off the concrete walls. A bullet passed millimeters from Mike's ear. It embedded itself into the wall in front of him. Mike shuddered and took off down the hall at a sprint.

Mike heard a few more shots being fired as he rounded the corner back into the arena. He couldn't take the ladder back up, he'd be a sitting duck… sitting turtle. Searching the room, he saw a door that exited to the alley. He tore over to it and started zigzagging when the gunfire made it into the main room.

Two guards locked shoulders at the door and both pointed pistols straight at him.

"Kill him," Hun yelled.

Both guards narrowed their eyes and Mike dove to the ground, ducking behind a huge crate. The shots whizzed over his head, which was lucky for Mike.

It wasn't so lucky for Hun who was still following Mike at a run. Hun realized, a second late, what was happening, and he managed drop like a stone to the floor. But he was a big stone and big things never can do anything quite fast enough. He screamed as the bullet tore through the skin on his shoulder.

Hun roared, "You shot me, you little bastards, you shot me."

The guards looked at each other in shock and alarm. They turned as one and darted out the door behind them. Alarms blared from the ceiling. Mike used the confusion to dart out the door behind the guards.

He sprinted two blocks away and dropped into the sewer. Water splashed toward him. Mike pulled out his weapons and yelled, "Who's there?"

The voice responded, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, Leo," Mike said, nodding, putting his chucks away. "Not a scratch."

Leo appeared by his side, breathing hard. "You managed to get out of the Purple Dragon headquarters, alone, without getting hurt? A few days ago, Raph was unconscious and you hurt your arm. "

Mike smiled, "Yeah, well, Raph can slow a guy down. Lots of pointless yelling and punching."

Leo pulled out his cell phone. "You guys are going to give me an ulcer by the time I'm thirty."

Mike shook his head, "If you would just be where you were supposed to be, none of this would have happened."

Leo said to his phone, "Yeah, I got him… Yeah he's fine… yeah sure."

Leo turned and hit Mikey hard on the back of the head.

"Hey," Mike said rubbing the spot.

"That's from Raph," Leo said. Then he grabbed Mike by the shell and pulled him into a bear hug that ended with Leo rubbing his fist on Mikey's head. "That's from me. And if you ever pull something that stupid again, so help me you'll never leave the lair unless you're handcuffed to me or Donny."

Mike studied Leo's face. Was he joking? Or did he mean it? Leo raised his eye ridges in a 'just try me' sort of way. Mike rubbed his wrists unconsciously.

Leo sighed and then smiled, "Well, considering, tonight could have been much much worse. Let's get home."

Mike watched him walk away in silence. Something had changed in Leo. Subtle, but definitely different.

Leo turned back toward him, "You coming? Are do you plan on living under Purple Dragon headquarters."

Mike shuddered, "Speaking of that. I've got a lot to tell you."


	9. Chapter 9

_author's note: Thanks to everyone who is reading... I appreciate it. :) For the record, this will not be a death fic, promise. Let me know if the characteration of your favorite character is right. This story is about balance and keeping the characters in character. Let me know how I'm doing. _

* * *

Mike, Leo and Raph sat in the living room after lunch the next day. Raph had made everyone some sandwiches, and Mike had managed to get Splinter to eat some soup. Don was still sleeping.

"The Purple Dragons and their new technology doesn't matter," Raph said, to the group when Mike dropped down into a seat. "Our priority needs to be our family."

Mike stared at Raph. He had totally switched sides in twelve hours. Yesterday, all he wanted to do was take care of the dragons, now all he cared about was the family? That was really strange, because he had totally flipped too, only he had flipped the other way.

"No," Mike said, "We have to take care of the Purple Dragons too."

Raph stared at him, "Why?"

"They're using that technology to build weapons, thousands and thousands of weapons. I don't know what they're trying to do, but when they're ready, they won't be able to be stopped. Right now we have a chance."

"But Don and Splinter are our priority," Raph said.

"Yes," Mike agreed, "But if Hun goes through with his plan, what hope is there for any of us. I'm telling you Raph, they were popping off a new weapon every 20 seconds. But they're all still in their building. So right now, we can do something about it."

"Really," Leo asked thoughtfully, "What?"

Mike stared at him and then back to Raph. "We could take down the building, blow it up."

"So are you going to go 'All Donny' for us and get that worked out?" Leo asked, gently, repeating Mike's words from the night before.

Raph chimed in, "We got to him better. Both of them. That's all that matters."

Mike sighed, "Guys, I'm telling you. We're in trouble. The whole city is in trouble."

"I'm not disagreeing, Mikey," Leo said, "I just don't see how we can do anything about it."

"We have too," Mike said passionately. "If we don't, even if Donny and Master Splinter get better, it won't do any good. They'll be in danger. We'll all be in danger."

"From what?" a hoarse voice said from the direction of Splinter's room.

Mike turned and saw, "Donny!"

Raph was at his side in an instant. "You need to rest, Don. Why don't you head up to your room? You need any help?"

Don regarded Raph for a second and then gave him a slight smile. "Actually, I'm feeling better."

Don waited patiently while Raph placed a hand on his forehead. Raph took his hand back looking puzzled.

"Yeah," Don said, "Fever's gone. Don't get me wrong, I'm not over this yet. But right now, I don't feel so bad." As he said it, his whole body gave a slight tremble. "But," he said, looking guilty, "I should probably sit down."

Don, with Raph at his side, lumbered over to couch. Don sat down in Raph's spot and Raph dropped down in the other chair.

"So, what'd I miss," Don asked, looking between the three of them.

Mike filled him in, with Raph interrupting from time to time while Leo stared at Don as though he were a puzzle to be worked out.

"Ouch," Don said, looking between them after the story was complete. "Mike's right, you have to stop it. As soon as you can."

"How?" Leo asked. "I'm all for it, but we need some kind of a plan."

Don looked thoughtful. "That's tough. We don't know what they're building. But it's doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard about. So in all probability, new technology. We don't know what we're up against."

Leo said quietly, "We often don't know exactly what we're up against. Why does that make a difference?"

Mike gave Leo a strange look. It sounded like something that Splinter would say.

Don answered with a smile, "I suppose it doesn't. But if we can know, it certainly would make things easier."

Leo smiled back, "Agreed."

Leo and Don exchanged a long look. Mike could only wonder what they were communicating with their eyes. They seemed to come to an agreement because all of a sudden Don nodded.

"Okay," Don said with a resigned tone, as if they just had a long heated debate. "I'll go get some rest. Just don't do anything stupid, because I'm in no shape to get you out."

Leo repeated, "Agreed."

With that Don rose slowly and stiffly to his feet. He shuffled off toward his room. He started up the steps with difficulty. As he got to about the middle, the coughing started and Don nearly doubled over before it stopped.

Mike and Raph both jumped to their feet at the same time. They looked at each other and immediately Raph sat back down. "You go." Raph said, giving Mike a grim nod. "Just make sure he stays in bed."

Mike nodded and darted up the steps. He gently helped Don to his feet again and they slowly made their way into Don's room.

Leo watched them leave with a sort of calmness that he hadn't felt in ages. Not that he wasn't worried. He was. Don's condition, though improving, wasn't good and Splinter's was worse.

The calmness stemmed from the look that he and Don shared. The last time they had communicated nonverbally was before he left. Leo gave him the "you better get some rest look" one that he had used the most often with Donatello. Don both understood and agreed. Over that, in the way that he always did, Don figured out what Leo was going to do, a few seconds before he realized it himself.

Leo finally got it, understanding rushed through him like a silent breeze. The missing element, the piece that would make him the best leader possible, came to him. It was stillness, or detachment: To see but not feel, to understand and not react. But it was a familiar feeling. He had that before he left, in fact he'd had it most of life. Maybe Raph and Don had been right all along. He always had what he needed to have. Splinter wanted him to work without a net. Well, that time was now.

"Okay," Leo said, turning to Raph. "We need to break in to the Purple Dragon headquarters."

As Raph started to protest, Leo held up a hand. Raph ranted for another few seconds before he realized that Leo wasn't going to interrupt. Raph looked puzzled and stopped talking.

Leo continued, "I understand your concerns. I agree with you. But there are two reasons for the break in. First, to get a feel for what's going on with them. But the other, as important, is to steal the technology they have so we can get what we need for Don and Master Splinter out of that warehouse. That's why Mike broke in yesterday. It was a good idea, though we were lucky he's still alive."

Raph nodded slowly, for once agreeing with him, "So the sooner the better."

"Agreed," Leo said again.

A devious Mikey-like smile spread across Raph's face, "I have an idea."

* * *

The sun set around seven. By eight, Mike stood at a phone booth three miles from the lair. He was fully camouflaged. He wore baggy sweatpants with mukluk boots, long trench coat and an oversized hat. He looked like homeless bum, and people gave him a wide berth as they passed on the sidewalk.

Leo and Raph nominated Mikey to do this job, figuring he could most easily pass as a 'scared out of his mind' teenager.

He popped the three numbers on the pad, and didn't even need to put in a quarter as the line picked up on the other end.

"This is 911, what is the emergency?"

Mike used a whiny nasal voice, the one that really annoyed Raph and said, crying slightly, "I… I need help."

The lady at the other end said soothingly, "Is anyone hurt?"

Mike, shaking his head for effect, said, "No, but Jimmy. They have so many guns. I just barely got out of there. They tried to kill me."

The voice changed, "Are you okay? Do you need an ambulance?"

"I'm fine," Mike said taking a fake shaky breath. "I don't know where Jimmy is. I can't get him on his cell. They might still have him. You have to help me."

"I'm tracking your location. I'm sending a car to you."

"No. I know where I am. It's Jimmy you got to find." Mike cried in actual alarm, scanning the streets for the squad car. "I ran. I'm safe. You need to help Jimmy. Make sure he's okay."

"Okay, we'll try to help Jimmy. But first you have to help me. What is your name?"

"Mike."

"Mike what?"

"Mike Phillips." Mike said studying the paper that he and Leo had put together that afternoon.

"Where do you live Mike?" the lady asked.

Without missing a beat, Mike gave her Mike Phillips real address, which was at a nursing home in downtown Manhattan. The real Mike Phillips had just turned a hundred years old. Leo had found a little story about him in last week's newspaper. He also happened to have a younger brother Jimmy, ninety-seven, who lived in the same nursing home.

"What happened to Jimmy?" the lady asked.

"We went snooping, I knew we shouldn't do it, but we got dared. We broke into the warehouse. But we had no idea that it was a gang hideout. They had crates and crates of guns. We both ran. But I haven't seen Jimmy, and he's not too fast, Jimmy. They were shooting at us."

"What the address?"

Mike gave her the address and general location of the Purple Dragon headquarters.

"I'll send a couple of squad cars to see if we can find Jimmy, and we'll send officers in to check and make sure he's left the building. But you need to stay there. I'll have an officer there in less than two minutes. You need to tell him what you saw."

"They're going to kill me," Mike whined and started purposely hyperventilating.

"Just stay there Mike. No one is going to hurt you."

That was the last full sentence he heard before he bolted out the door and to the fire escape, purposely leaving the phone swinging. He gained the rooftops in less than a minute, just as the red lights of the police car pulled up to the phone booth. Mike watched as one of the officers picked up the dangling phone, and the other peered in the darkness on all sides.

As the officers started headed into the nearest store, a twenty-four hour quickie mart, Mike pulled out his phone. "We're a go," he whispered to Leo. "The boys in blue are on their way."

* * *

Raph watched as Leo hung up. Leo gave Raph a thumbs up and Raph quietly dropped in through the skylight. He wondered how many times they would break in before someone thought to lock the damn thing. Not that it really mattered, he thought fingering his sai. Between he and Donny boy, they could take care of any lock.

Ideally, this part of the plan should have been Mikey's job. Plan being loose term. But Leo's ninja skills were second to none and the last part of the plan was the most dangerous. Leo wouldn't let anyone else take it. And Raph couldn't act nearly as well as Mikey could.

Raph silently lowered himself using the ladder, never putting his feet in the rungs. He dropped the floor silent as a digital clock. The room was half lit, but no one was around. Keeping to the shadows on the far side, Raph headed toward the door.

Pay dirt. Two teenaged guards stood there, holding rifles, and looking utterly bored. The one on the left -- a tow head kid who was texting on his mobile phone with one hand while he held the gun in the other -- looked more like a Jimmy to Raph than the kid on the right. Raph took careful aim with his sai and threw it.

The butt end of the sai hit the kid in the middle of the forehead. He dropped instantly, mid text. The gun fell to the floor, and as it hit, it went off, sending a bullet toward the ceiling and a deafening crack through the building.

The other kid shouldered his weapon and aimed it around the room, waiting for the attacker to show himself.

Raph buried himself more deeply in the shadows. He threw two shuriken, special ones designed by Donny. They hit their mark with a barely a whisper. The kid looked down to see two tiny metal circles in sticking out of his each of his shoulders. Still holding the gun, he pulled them out, throwing them to the ground with a startled yell. But the sedative was already taking effect. The gun dropped first, sending a shot into the plaster, and then the kid sat down hard, blinking his eyes and shaking his head. He leaned backward against the wall.

Raph could hear the footsteps heading toward them. He swore to himself. This wasn't going to be plan one, if it had been a plan to begin with. Time for the second option. The trick with option two was not getting killed.

Raph darted forward, grabbing the unconscious "Jimmy" and dropping him in the alley outside the door, setting off the building alarms. Raph, silenced the alarms with a sai into the power box. Then he pulled the dazed and confused kid, with his bloody hands and shirt into sight line of the window. He grabbed his sais and the guns just as the footsteps reached the room.

Thirty people flooded into the room with them the light flooded on to maximum. Raph covered his eyes and tried to duck behind the bleachers of the arena. They spotted him. A half dozen bullets headed his way, sounding like confused firecrackers. Raph dove and rolled to the ground. From his belly, he took careful aim with one of the guns. He let off three rounds which had no hope of hitting anything. Raph just needed to keep them busy and didn't want the bullets to accidently ricochet and take his own head off.

The group scattered, taking cover in all directions. Raph's odds here were horrible. He only had the bleachers for cover, and they were as much of a help to his opponents than to himself. They could sneak up on any side. Raph sent more carefully aimed, pointless shots all over the building.

It kept them at bay for a few minutes. But the next round of shots that came back at him embedded in the wall behind him, missing him by millimeters. A group of about five had broken off and were sneaking around the outer wall.

Raph could hear Leo's voice in his head before they left, "Kept them busy, but if it gets hairy, get out of there. I just need a few minutes."

A device in Raph's belt glowed green. Leo was in position. Raph ran for the door, firing the gun over his head behind him as he ran. Shots whizzed past his head as he left the building. There was a burn in his arm as one of them got too close.

Raph looked down, he'd been grazed but it wasn't bad. Ignoring the pain, he scaled up the wall of building next door. He reached the roof as the kids burst out of the door.

Raph fired on them from his position, purposely aiming over their heads, planting the bullets into the wall and windows. The kids returned fire, the bullets passing harmlessly over his head.

Then Raph heard something he always thought he'd dread. But today it brought a smile to his face. A police officer yelled into the crowd, "Everyone drop your weapons. Including you on the roof."

Raph happily threw both of the guns over the edge of the building. They went off when they hit the ground, causing everyone to jump back. Raph used the distraction to roll for all he was worth. He rolled into a crouch, from the crouch, he jumped into a sprint and leaped across the street. He heard the police yelling at him, but he continued sprinting across the rooftops until he was over ten blocks away.

Breathing heavily, he dropped back to the ground and headed straight into the sewers. He pulled out his phone. "Donny, you there?"

Don said in his hoarse voice, "Yeah."

"Leo's in. Open the connection. You're on."

"Right," Don answered. "If we're lucky, he won't need me."

Raph looked down at his burning shoulder. A small trench ran the breadth of his upper arm, about as long and deep as a marker, where the bullet had grazed him. It wasn't bleeding, but the black skin was oozing clear fluid. His right arm too. He grabbed his sai and tried a few moves experimentally. Every motion hurt. "Luck ain't our strong suit. Call Mikey. I'll be back to you in ten."

* * *

Don registered the change in plans with a raise of his eyebrows. Raph was supposed to meet Leo at the rendezvous point. If he was switching places with Mikey it meant that he was comprised, in other words, hurt.

Don quickly informed Michelangelo of the change in plans, which Mike took without comment. Then Don flipped out his extra phone, put on a headset, and opened the muted connection to Leo.

"I'm here Leo," Don whispered into the mike.

"Is Raph okay?" Leo asked so quietly, Don almost couldn't make it out.

"Injured," Don acknowledged. "But he's coherent, not in pain, and under his own power. I'd guess nothing life threatening. Mike's heading your way."

"Okay," Leo said. "Now for the tricky part."

Don murmured his agreement . He muted his side of the connection as another cough forced it's way out of his body. Considering the circumstances, tricky didn't begin to describe it.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

After Mike got Donny's call, he turned on his heel, and headed back toward the warehouse district via the sewers. Raph was hurt. Just thinking about it made Mike's stomach flip flop. He didn't know how bad, and quite frankly, he didn't want to know. If he didn't know what was wrong, he could pretend that it was no big deal.

Mike jogged until he found the spot he had come down a few days earlier. He popped his head out of the manhole to get his bearings. Then he dropped back on the floor with a slight splash. He made his way underground , to about the place where the warehouse stood. He studied the pipes in front of him and noticed a small grate into the roof. He climbed the access ladder and pushed the grate aside. It was too small to get his body through, but it was enough to tell him that he was in the right place. He was under the street, in front of the purple dragon building.

He called Don on the cell, "What exactly am I looking for again?"

"There should be a place where the pipes exit the building."

"Huh?" Mike asked.

Mike could hear the sigh on the other end and then a muffled cough, "Okay, let's try it this way. I want you to face toward the building."

'Okay," Mike said turning ninety degrees.

"Now do you see any pipes that are coming out of the wall in front of you. They would be coming straight at you, the other pipes are running up and down the ceiling."

Mike studied the walls and ceiling. There were pipes everywhere, running every direction, some where going down the tunnel, some up the tunnel, some going into the ceiling, some going down into the floor. But there were none coming out of the wall in front of him.

"There aren't any," Mike said in his phone as he let his eyes roam up and down the wall as far as he could see in either direction.

The other end of the phone issued a series of curses and then a hacking cough. In a hoarse whisper Don said, "Head out… get to the backside of the building. See if it's..." Then he broke off again and coughed.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked, gut wrenching concern filling his stomach. "Donny."

"I'm here," came an garbled whisper. "But… I can't… breathe." Each word sounded more difficult then the next.

Mike found his way to the back of the building and still there was nothing. Nothing that looked like pipes heading out of a wall.

"Donny, I can't find anything that would let me into the building. I'm heading back." Mike said. "You need help."

"You can't." Don hissed back, then he coughed again, "Leo… needs someone… there."

Mike froze. Leo's exit plan, such as it was, depended on someone being on the outside. Otherwise Leo could be trapped.

A wracking cough echoed through his headset, and then agonized panting. But what about Don? Don sounded bad, really bad. He needed help.

Then something issued from the headset that made Mike's blood freeze. Don swore and then mumbled in a hoarse whisper, "Oh my God, Raph."

Before Mike could make any kind of reply, Don said in a steadier voice, "Stay there, Mikey. I'm ordering you. Stay there. Help Leo." Then the line went dead.

* * *

Adrenaline was a funny thing. Don had found it in battles or at times when he had to do something literally impossible. He had never really appreciated the wonders it could perform. Until now.

When the door of the lair opened, Don got out of his computer chair, where he was plugged into both Mike and Leo, to see what had happened to Raph.

Raph staggered over to a couch, and grabbed onto the back of it with both arms. He was covered from head to toe in sweat, he was both pale and flushed, and a wound at the side of his arm oozed blood, slowly. Right before Don's eyes, Raph fell to his knees.

The sight of Raph falling snapped something inside Don. The weakness that had plagued him for days evaporated. His chest still burned and hurt, but it didn't matter, nothing mattered, only Raph. Don signed off with Mike, giving him explicit instructions to stay put, and then he ran to Raph's side.

"Hey," Don said, dropping down next him. "What happened?"

"Grazed," Raph said blurrily. "Shoulder."

"Is that it?" Don said, "No other injuries."

Raph shook his head weakly. "I'm just weak, all of a sudden. Cold."

Don knew right away, Raph was in shock, which meant Don didn't have much time.

Using his newly found strength, Don pulled Raph off the ground and half carried, half dragged him into his lab. He dumped his brother on the bed, giving the arm wound a quick glance before deciding to get an IV started first. With a few quick motions, he had Raph hooked up to an IV and started to give him copious amounts of saline.

Don examined the shoulder wound. He cleaned up the worst of the blood and then gave a low whistle. The bullet had craved out a crater on Raph's bicep, burning most of the skin black. It was going to scar badly, but it probably saved his life. The bullet had nicked an artery on Raph's huge arm. But had the bullet not burnt the flesh as well, Raph would have bled to death.

The wound still bled, but in a slow, lava from a volcano, sort of way. Each beat of his heart pumped more blood out, killing him one beat at time. That had to stop now. Don considered his options, with a surprisingly clear head. Standard procedure was to stitch the wound closed. But there was nothing to use. Any skin around the wound itself was black and worthless. It would clot eventually, but he might bleed out first.

The change in position and fluids must have helped Raph because he asked, in a voice clenched with pain, but much more lucid, "How bad is it?"

"Bad enough." Don said, looking at Raph's grimacing face. "Look, Raph, we need to stop the bleeding now. You're in shock, but I can't stitch this, it's too damaged. I can only think of one thing to do, but it's not pleasant. Do you trust me?"

Raph said between clenched teeth, "Of course, brainaic, moron."

"After this you may never trust me again," Don said, and he shook his head as he headed to get the tools he needed. He took the blow torch and started heating up the steel rod he had planned on using on the battle shell.

He set up a jig to hold both the rod and the burning torch in place. He gave Raph some stored blood through the IV and then gave his brother some morphine. The effect was immediate, Raph relaxed and closed his eyes.

"Thanks, Donny," Raph said.

"Thank me later," Don said, steeling himself. "You're not going to want to watch this. Turn your head okay."

"What are you going to do?" Raph said, sounding concerned even through the haze of drugs.

"You don't want to know. This is going to hurt." Don said.

Don grabbed the rod which glowed red orange at the tip. He placed the glowing metal on the end of the artery. The end of the vessel burned black and the blood flow stopped immediately. Raph screamed and thrashed on the table, knocking over the IV stand. Don swore at himself for not restraining Raph beforehand.

Raph lashed out at Don, trying to force him away. Don defended himself with one hand while trying not to burn or set anything else on fire with the other. There were at least 3 other vessels that could stand to be cauterized.

"You burned me," Raph yelled.

"To stop the bleeding," Don said as he put the rod down. "I just finished what the bullet had started. There wasn't any skin left to cover the wound and I had to stop the bleeding. It's the only way I could think to stop it."

It was either the shock or the morphine, but Raph stopped fighting almost immediately. He moaned, "My head."

Don, feel concern well up in him again, he headed back toward Raph.

But as soon as he got close, Raph yelled, "Get away from me."

Don took a quieting breath and then said. "Okay, Raph. I'm done. The worst of it is over. I need to bandage it up. I won't do that again, I promise." In his head, Don added, 'It'll probably give me nightmares for the rest of my life.'

Raph considered him through heavy eyes. Then he gave a brief nod.

Don quickly picked up the IV stand, and made sure it was still going, which by some miracle was. He placed ointment on pads that he placed over the wound and then he wrapped the arm in thick white gauze.

He elevated Raph's feet, changed out the IV bag, and added another bag of saline. He checked Raph's pulse once more. It was slow and regular. Don took his brother's hand, it felt cool, but not unduly so. Raph's face had returned to almost normal color. Don let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. It looked like Raph was going to be okay.

"How do you feel," Don asked, feeling himself relax.

"Spacey," Raph said not opening his eyes.

"Are you in any pain?"

"No," Raph answered.

Don sat down in the chair next to the bed. "That makes one of us," Don said, clutching his chest.

The aches and pains that had been forgotten came back with a vengeance, worse than before. He felt dizzy, and short of breath. Every muscle ached, every breath stabbed pain into his lungs.

But he couldn't give in, not now. Raph was out of the woods, but he would still need fluids, and probably another transfusion before he was really out of danger. And Leo was counting on him for technical back-up. But the part of his brain that could still focus knew that he would lose. As quickly as adrenaline pumped you up, it took you down. And it wasn't the fall that killed you, it was the landing. This little stint was going to cost him big time.

As the world began to spin, Don dropped down onto the floor. He crawled back to where he had dropped his phone on the floor next to where Raph collapsed. He grabbed it and called.

* * *

Mike stood shaking in the tunnel, wondering what to do. On the one hand, Don told him to stay put, and one of the problems with being the youngest in a family is that everyone is above you in the pecking order. Mike was the ultimate grunt. It didn't matter who ordered him to do what, he had to follow orders, clan rules. Even if Don really wasn't in charge anymore, Leo was. Even though Don never wanted to be in charge in the first place, Raph did. Even though Don was closest to him in age. Don ordered him to stay put and not without good reason. Leo would be trapped in the building without help.

He tried to work off his nerves. He paced up and back the tunnel. He jumped up and grabbed the pipes, swinging across them like a gigantic green monkey. Then he landed with a plop and a splash of stale water.

There it was in front of him, the way into the building. He'd found it. It was on the side street. Mike quickly ducked into the small access area where the water pipes entered the building. It was tight, more of a crawl space then a real entrance. But it led him to the spot where Leo might need to escape through. Luck was on his side, there was a metal access panel into the floor of the building above. The hinges were above, meaning it opened into the building. Mike couldn't get it open, but Leo could. Mike would just have to help him find it.

Mike's cell went off. He grabbed it, immediately thinking it was going to be Leo. But it wasn't. And Don's voice set off every warning bell he ever had.

"I… need… help… Mikey… please," Don rasped into the phone.

"Donny," Mike almost yelled. "What?"

"Raph… in shock… I… can't breath… need help."

"Okay," Mike said, trying to get a hold of himself. "What do you need me to do?"

He was met with silence, and then a weak cough and then an even weaker "Mikey…"

"Dammit Donny, what do I do?" Mike shouted at the phone. "Tell me!"

But the silence on the other end was now absolute. He checked the cell, he was still connected, but no Don.

Mike crawled back to the other end of his little access tunnel and paced up and down the corridor twice. Then something inside him snapped.

He furiously dialed Leo's number. He heard it pick up, but he knew that Leo was in no position to talk. So Mike hissed, "Abort, Leo, abort. Get out of there. We need to get home now!"

Leo whispered, "What? Why? I just need a few more minutes."

"Leo, we don't have time. Don just called me. He can't breathe and Raph's in shock."

Leo sounded strained, "I can't."

Something about the tone made Mike shudder. "Why?"

"I just can't."

* * *

And he really couldn't. At that moment, Leo was under a desk in Hun's office with police officers roaming the halls in front of him. Raph's little stunt had worked, too well. They were hoping for a couple of the boys in blue to distract the Purple Dragons while Leo had a chance to "go ninja" and rob them of all their cool new technology. The exit strategy was fluid, meaning they didn't have one. But one of his brother was on site to provide additional distractions if, in all probability, Leo couldn't get out.

Instead, they had managed to call in a whole SWAT team. So right now, Leo couldn't get out and there was nothing that Mike could do to help him. He was safe for the moment, but that could change in an eye blink.

"What's wrong?" Mike's agitated voice asked from the headset.

"I'm pinned down in Hun's office. At my last count, there were at least 20 officers in the building. They don't know I'm here yet. But they haven't found any of the stuff either."

There was a hesitation on the phone for the briefest of moments and then Mike said, in a low calm voice, "Leonardo, you need to get out now. I'm ordering you. Get out. We need to get home."

Leo's forehead wrinkled. Had he heard right? Had Mike just ordered him?

"Look," Mike continued in a softer voice, "we need to get back to them now. Don doesn't exaggerate. If he needs help, then it's desperate."

Leo tensed as a police officer flipped on the light. Mike was right, if Don called for help, then things were bad. The officer gave the room a quick scan and then started to rifle through the filing cabinet.

"Look," Mike hissed in his ear. "I have an idea… two actually. So abort, we'll regroup."

Leo couldn't answer, not with the cop in the room. He disconnected from Mike. Okay, his first priority would be to get out. He sent a text message to Mike's phone that said, 'Be there as quick as I can. Don't call. Leo out.'

It was only a matter of time before the cop started to check the desk and then Leo would have no where to hide. It was now or never.

With a burst of quick power, Leo flipped the desk onto it's side so that the cop at the filing cabinet still couldn't see him.

The cop swore, "What the hell?"

As the cop came to investigate, Leo sprang up, flipped over the desk and the startled cop, and landing behind him. Before the man could figure out what happened, Leo crashed the butt end of his katana into the back of his neck. The cop dropped like lead, instantly unconscious. Leo lowered him down by the flipped over desk.

Then he leaped upwards and he pushed a couple of ceiling tiles aside. There was a drywall roof over the drop ceiling. Leo took his blades and did a jump spin cutting through the fiber board like it was made of water. Then he sprang up grabbing the crumbling dry wall with both hands. It wasn't made to hold his weight, and started to immediately break. With focused effort, Leo adjusted his grip and then pulled himself through the ceiling hole, standing on the roof studs for support.

The offices were just little boxes in the larger warehouse. He was now standing on the roof of the office, in plain view of everyone else in the warehouse. Leo dropped to his stomach as fast as he could.

He was in trouble. Cops were literally swarming all over the warehouse. It wasn't twenty, it was more like fifty. He had maybe thirty seconds before someone noticed his unconscious cop and the hole in the ceiling. But where to go? He pulled out his phone.

"Mike, is there a way out from the basement?"

"Yeah, there is, I'm standing right by it."

"Where were those steps you told us about?"

Mike hesitated a few seconds and then said, "Down a long hallway in the office area."

Leo scrambled like a scorpion across the office area roof, making sure to plant his hand and feet on the load bearing studs, lest he fall through the ceiling. He found a concrete shaft that stretched up toward the roof.

He put his head on the roof listening for any sounds. He heard a commotion in the office where he'd left, but nothing near by. He used his blade to carve out another hole. He pulled the piece of drywall up toward him, so it didn't leave much trace on the floor, and then he poked his head down. He was right above the steps. He dropped through his second hole, and padded lightly down the steps.

He ended up in a basement, dark and dank, smelling of mold and rotten fish. Leo almost gagged, but he pulled his bandana over his nose and ducked into the darkest shadows to the right of the door.

It looked entirely unused, like no one had bothered to step foot in it for years. Leo knew better, but the effect was convincing. He doubted any of the officers gave this smelly place more than a quick glance.

He whispered into his headset, "Mike, where is the exit into the sewer."

"Lock on to my position," Mike answered. It should led you right to me."

Leo stared at his phone in confusion, but then settled on hitting the orange button on the side. His screen turned into a tracking screen with the blip of Mike being 80 feet to his Southeast.

Leo moved that direction cautiously, but it the caution was unneeded. There was nothing in that basement, not even a screw or light fixture that would say that a full high tech lab had been up and working there. Leo willed his eyes to penetrate the gloom, but there was nothing, not today.

The door he needed to get through was locked made of metal, but Leo pulled out one of the items Don had him take, a set of lock picks and a universal card reader.

Leo experimentally gave the lock picks a try. And to his utter astonishment, the half hour lesson Raph gave him paid off. The door simply opened.

Or so he thought. The open door revealed a punk kid with blue spiky hair leaving the room.

The kid was out cold before the door had finished opening. Leo pulled him inside the room, and relocked the door behind him. Then scanning around, he realized that he was in a mechanical room. He recognized a water heater and a furnace from some of the stuff that Don had salvaged over time. But there was a lot of weird looking stuff that he didn't recognize. But there wasn't time for that.

He walked until he stood on top of the orange dot on his display. Only then did he realize he was on top of steel panel. Leo hunched down and found the padlock that held it closed. This time he didn't bother with the lock picks, he had a better idea. He hurried back to the kid and took his rifle.

On his cell, Leo said to Mike, "Back up."

He could hear scrambling and then judging it was safe, with a huge bang, Leo shot the lock off the panel. He lifted the panel and slid out of the building into the crawl space.

"Did you find anything?" Mike asked as soon as they were upright.

"No," Leo admitted, giving his brother a defeated look. "It looks like they cleaned everything out."

"So this whole thing was for nothing," Mike said.

Usually at this point, Leo would disagree, find something positive to say about the mission. It was his job, his duty as leader to encourage his brothers. But in this case he totally agreed. "Let's get home," he said.

* * *

As soon as Leo said the words, Mike took off at a run, leaving Leo in his wake. The panic that he'd kept at bay hit him full now. Raph was in shock, Don couldn't answer anymore. What would they find when they got home?


	11. Chapter 11

Leo felt numb when they arrived home and found Don lying on the floor. Don was totally unresponsive. He wouldn't, or couldn't wake up, despite Mike's yelling and shaking. Leo picked Don up and placed him on a bed next to Raph in the lab.

Leo felt numb when he saw Raph unconscious on the bed, hooked up to an IV, with his feet elevated. He glanced underneath the white gauze over his arm and saw the nasty wound, black and red. From the looks of it, it was still slowly bleeding. Leo put another layer of gauze over the arm automatically, making it tighter than Don had done.

Leo turned back to Don. He felt numb when Mike started hitting Donny's chest. Leo grabbed Mike and pulled him back. Mike broke down in his arms and wailed. Leo couldn't feel anything. It was unreal.

Leo managed to mumble into Mike's ear. "They're both alive. Where there is life, there is always hope." But he didn't believe it.

Over the next few minutes, they got Don comfortable, checked on Splinter, and gave Raph another IV drip. Mike sat down in the chair between the two sick beds, looking as miserable as either of the occupants.

Leo gave Mike a long look and then said, "If you need me… umm. If you need me, I'll be… I don't know. Somewhere."

When Mike looked up his face was glittery with tears. His asked, panicky, "You're not leaving?"

Leo felt his gut wrench into his throat. His composure was cracking, bit by bit. "No," he said, smiling somehow. "I'll just be in the dojo, okay."

Not waiting for a response, Leo walked to the dojo, managing to keep on top of his crumbling composure. But when the doors snapped shut behind him, so the numb feeling. The tears stung at the corners of his eyes before they started to fall hard and fast.

He was angry at himself. He brought home a deadly disease. He couldn't control his emotions. Everything he had tried to help only made things worse.

He was even angry at Don and Splinter for getting sick. He was angry at Raph for getting hurt. He was angry at Mikey too, for no reason. He walked around the room trying to calm himself. In desperation, he grabbed the weapons rack and threw it with all of his strength to the ground.

The noise of crash enveloped him. The rack splintered, an old bo rolled to the middle of the room.

Leo took a breath and then two, looking at the carnage he created. He found to his surprise that the worst of the anger had left him. Now he had only enough anger left to be thoroughly pissed off at himself.

But even that slipped away. As it left, another emotion even more overpowering took hold of him. Despair. The thought of losing his family ripped his heart and made him so scared that he couldn't focus. The fact that all three might die induced near panic. He heart raced, his hands shook. It was the same feeling he had when he saw Don faint a few days earlier, only that had been fleeting. Don had woken up. Now Don couldn't wake, Raph was in trouble and Splinter was getting weaker.

He sat down, leaning his shell up against the wall, and buried his head in his arms.

* * *

Mike heard a deafening crash and he shot up like he'd been sitting on a firecracker. Neither of the figures next to him moved. He checked them anyways. When he was satisfied they were okay, he headed toward the sound of the crash.

He opened the door a crack. The weapons rack sat on it's side in the middle of the room, it's contents spilled all over the floor. Wood bokkens, wooden bos, and nun chucks, some now cracked beyond repair, spanned the entire floor. Thank God that Splinter had long ago put anything sharp on the wall, else the mats, tattered as they were, wouldn't have made it.

Leo was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees. He looked up when Mike came in and turned quickly away. But not before Mike saw the tears.

Mike considered his brother for a moment before heading over. Mike had a system for each of his brothers, a way that he could make them feel better. With Donny it was a quick joke, Raph needed a bit of roughhousing, but Leo… It had been too long since Mike had done it for Leo. He couldn't remember.

The carnage in the room spoke to a Raph-like anger. The tears on his cheeks a Don-like emotional state. He decided to comprise and use a bit of both.

He walked over to his brother and sat down next to him, not looking at him. "So, what'd the rack do? I warned it not to criticize your forms."

Leo made eye contact, in disbelief and maybe annoyance.

Mike continued, "It had it coming. It's been giving me a hard time for years. All the extra chucks call to me saying, 'Mikey, use me, favor me over those worthless sticks on your belt.' It's about time someone broke a few of them."

Now Leo was staring outright, "What are you talking about?"

Mike smiled, "I'm just agreeing with your decision to destroy the weapon's rack. It had it coming."

"I didn't decide to destroy it."

"Really?" Mike grabbed the tails of his mask. "Hmm… blue. Thought they might be red. You're starting to act a bit like Raph, dude." Mike commented, half smiling.

"I think I'm feeling a bit like Raph," Leo said, leaning his head back against the wall. "It made me feel better when I threw it."

Mike gave him an actual smile, "You know, had you figured that out about ten years ago, the lair would have been a nicer place to live."

Leo didn't have an answer for that. He turned his head and stared in the opposite direction of where Mike sat.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked when the silence grew long.

"No," Leo said with a sharp anger that hadn't been there a second before. "My father and one, maybe two, of my brothers are dying. How could I possibly be okay?"

Mike digested that. Yeah, it was a dumb question. "Fair, dude. But what about you. How are you?"

Leo turned to look at him and then turned away again. "This is all my fault, Mike. I brought home the disease, Don and Splinter are going to die because of me. And Raph got hurt because of my plan."

"All your fault? No way. You couldn't have known about the TB thing. And as for Raph, he always does what he wants anyway. No one could ever guarantee that he would stay safe."

"But I'm the leader. With Splinter sick it falls to me," Leo said miserably. "It doesn't matter if I can't control Raph, it's still my fault."

"No, it's not," Mike said simply. "And it doesn't matter anyway."

Leo gave him a confused stare. "It doesn't matter? Splinter, Don and Raph don't matter?"

Mike gave a slight smile despite the pain in his heart, "They matter. It doesn't matter who is to blame. What does feeling guilty get you? You can't do anything about it now. You made the best decision you could at the time. No one expects anything more than that."

Leo seemed to deflated further. He bowed his head and wrapped himself into a tighter ball.

"No one, except you," Mike amended starting at him. "Maya Angelo once said, 'When I knew better, I did better.' You didn't know. You couldn't have known. You have to let it go if you want to help them."

"But what can we do?" Leo said half angry, half pained. "Without medicine Don and Splinter area as good as dead. And Raph…"

Annoyance flashed through Mike like a jolt of electricity. "They aren't dead. And I'll tell you what, Leo… We spent a whole year not knowing if you were alive or dead. As much as it would kill me if they died, at least we would know. We could get on with our lives. It was hell thinking you were dead and not knowing what happened to you."

Leo eyes went wide, "But I was still alive."

"We didn't know that. The Leo we knew wouldn't put us through that. He wouldn't have left us hanging for over a year. Do you know how much that hurt? Every day waking up, hoping that you were alive that today would be the day that you came back. And then you didn't. It like losing you all over again, every night. Like what you're feeling right now, every single day of our lives."

Leo stared back at Mike, shell shocked.

Mike went on, "It almost drove us apart. Donny tried, but he couldn't hold it all together. How could he? You two were like best friend before you left. He was half sick with grief every day. We all were. Splinter and Raph retreated into their own little worlds. Don and I both got jobs because it was too damn hard to just sit here and have to nothing to think about except you; if you were hurt, if you alive or not."

Leo looked horrified.

Mike sighed, "But that Leo I knew, the one who wouldn't leave us hanging, hasn't come back yet. Because that Leo could control his emotions almost as well as Splinter and he wouldn't have attacked the weapon's rack. But it did have it coming. So I don't care. I'll take any Leo I can get." Mike put his arm around his brother.

Leo looked thoughtfully at Mike, but didn't say anything.

Mike pulled himself back to his feet, "I have an idea to get Splinter and Don the medicine they need. When you're ready to forgive yourself, I could use some help."

And then he left his brother sitting in the room. As Mike closed the door, he smiled. He did have a Leo strategy after all. Kinda like riding a bike, some things are never forgotten.

* * *

When Leo found Mike an hour later, he was on the phone talking quite animatedly with someone.

"Really?" Mike said punching his fist in the air. "Yes. That's fantastic. I should have figured Don would have thought of that."

There was a pause.

"Well, he's still really sick. But the outlook is good. And now I can get meds for my dad too. Thanks Ron,"

Another pause.

"Yeah, I'll tell him. Later dude."

Mike hung up the phone with a huge grin on his face, full of hope.

"What's up? Who was on the phone?"

"Don's buddy from work, Ron. He just checked some stuff out for me. Did you know that Don is covered by health insurance. And he got insurance for you, me, Raph, and Splinter too."

"What difference does that make?" Leo said. "It's not like we can go to the doctor."

"No, but the plan covers prescription drugs. And you and Splinter have just taken ill in Costa Rica."

"What?" Leo asked totally confused.

Mike gave him a bright smile and then looking at a notebook, he quickly dialed a number.

"Yeah, Hi. Can I talk to Sally Witten please?"

There was a long pause and Mike winked over at Leo.

"Hi Sally. I don't know if you remember me, but this Mike Hamato, I performed at Jake's birthday party a few months back."

There was a pause and then Mike continued.

"I'm doing great, but I do have a problem. I thought maybe you could help me. Did you know that my oldest brother is in Costa Rica doing missionary work in the jungle?"

Leo wondered at that, considering he was standing in the room.

"Yeah. He's really dedicated. Too dedicated. He was helping in this tiny village, that's miles from anywhere. They had an outbreak of Tuberculosis while he was there. Well, Leo got it too. He's sick as dog in a rundown village hospital. They don't have enough drugs to treat everyone, so Leo insisted that he didn't need it. Well, about two weeks ago Leo took a turn for the worse, and my dad went down to the Costa Rica. The priest at the hospital just called me. Dad's got it now too. They're getting meds but they feel awful about it because everything they get takes away from a poor soul who has no other hope."

Leo gaped.

After a short pause Mike continued, "Well, here the thing. Me and my two other brothers, Raph and Donny, we were going down there. As soon as Dad and Leo are well enough, we're going to bring them home. But I was hoping that I could bring the drugs they need from here. I have a prescription for the medicine from the doctor in Costa Rica, I just need to get it filled. Also, the doctor gave me and my other brothers prescriptions to prevent us from getting it. Can you do that? Can you fill the prescriptions from another country… Yeah, we've got insurance…"

Mike looked down at a card he'd been holding. He read off the information on the front of the card.

Mike smiled into the phone and said, "Yeah, Donny's real name is Donatello…. Yeah I know… My actual name is Michelangelo, Leo is Leonardo, and Raph is Raphael. My dad had this thing about Renaissance painters. And he's Japanese, so our last name is Hamato. It was a nightmare in school…"

There was a long pause and then Mike frowned as if thinking… "Well, yeah, Donny is twenty-twoish… Well… Dad hasn't worked in a long time… He just can't. So Donny does…"

Mike frowned even more deeply. "I suppose it is weird, but better than being uninsured."

"Yeah, I have a gig later this morning. Could drop off the prescriptions in say an hour? And then pick it up afterwards? Just to warn you, they faxed me the prescription and it's almost illegible."

There was another long pause.

"It really can't wait. Our plane leaves tomorrow at 4 am…. Really? Thank you, This is such a load off my mind…. I'll see you in a bit."

Mike hung up and gave Leo a huge grin.

Leo's mouth dropped. Did Mike do what he thought he did?

Mike gave a smug grin, "So if anyone gives me crap that my little job was a waste of time, they owe me a large meat lovers pizza with extra cheese and mushrooms."

"You just got them the medicine they need?" Leo asked.

"Yep. One of the moms I worked for is a pharmacist and her husband owns the pharmacy. Literally a mom and pop shop. Besides, they owe me."

"Why?"

"Their son, Jake, is budding psychopath. He took the knife for the cake and threw it at me. It missed my face by inches. When I said I wasn't going to press charges they swore if I ever needed anything…" Mike broke off with a grin and a shake of his head.

"Looks like they are going to save your family," Leo commented, feeling something like peace settle in his stomach.

Mike smiled, "Yeah, I guess."

Leo reached out and grabbed Mike and pulled him into a hug.

"Easy Leo," Mike said as Leo's arm tightened. "Don't break my shell."

Leo let go and stepped back. "Thanks. For everything."

Mike gave him a knowing smile. "What are little brother's for… if it's not to fight for truth, justice, and the American way?" Mike started heading over the refrigerator.

"And Mikey," Leo said.

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry. I won't let you down again."

Mike turned back and gave him another smile, "Good." He started digging food out of the refrigerator. Then he turned back around, "You owe Donny an apology too bro. Him more than me."

Leo nodded. Thanks to Mike, he would get a chance.

But there was one last thing he wanted to know. "Mike. Since when did you read Maya Angelo?"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

The room was dark when Don woke up. The first thing he noticed was that his arm felt weird. He looked at it and there was an IV sticking out it. The tube attached to it went to an IV machine, which was clicking. Don stared at the IV machine in confusion. It was nice, new even. Not something that he had scavenged and repaired.

There were two bags attached to the machine. One was obviously saline, but the other one had a medical label stuck to it. Don squinted and he could make out the name Leonardo Hamato on the side.

"What the?" Don said to the dark.

The darkness answered with obvious relief. "Donny."

Don turned to the voice and found Raph lying in the bed next to him. Through the haze of his brain and the heaviness of his limbs, Don remembered that Raph had been hurt. "Raph," Don said slowly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, no thanks to you. This thing hurts like a son of … If you ever burn me again on purpose, I will destroy your lab one computer at a time."

Don considered that for a minute, and then with a jolt the scene played back to him. "Yeah," he croaked, "Let's not… do that again." A weak cough came from his chest and he rolled to his side before it got out of control.

"Easy Don," Raph said. He was at his side in an instant.

Raph helped Don find a more comfortable spot, keeping the IV tube clear of the shifting limbs.

After the coughing had stopped, Don looked more carefully at Raph in the dim light.

"You're okay?" Don asked looking confused.

"Yeah," Raph answered sitting down in the chair next to the bed. "Are you? It ain't like you to repeat questions."

The fog was slowly clearing from his brain and still Don didn't get it. Raph looked fine, other than a white bandage that covered his right upper bicep. He had thought… what had he thought… wasn't Raph hurt pretty badly?

"Wait," Don said, looking around the room and then fixing his eyes back on Raph. "You were hurt… you were in shock. You lost a bunch of blood. You can't be up… already. That isn't possible."

"Don't worry about me little buddy," Raph said, "I'm fine. But I'm serious about your lab. You went all gothic on me, burning me like that. Where did you pick that one up? Mike thinks it was from a movie, Braveheart… or Rambo. You can't do that stuff for real. I've earned the right to decide what movies you get to watch from now on. You're going to only watch kung-fu movies that I pick out. No medieval healing. The last you need is any more wacked ideas. I would have destroyed your lab earlier, but Leo got all pissy with me, said that once you woke up, you'd need something to do. I thought it keep you out of trouble if your lab was gone, but…"

Don cut off the ramble, "Whoa… Slow down… I don't get it… Where did we get that IV? And the medicine for Leo? What is going on?"

Raph took a deep breath and then said, "You're sick Don. Really sick."

Don coughed, "I know that… I haven't been able to get a deep breath in a week."

"More, really," Raph said, standing up. "You know, I should go get Leo and Mike. They'll want to know that you're awake."

"Hold it, Raph," Don said, part of the puzzle falling into place. He grabbed Raph's hand before he could leave. "How long have I been out."

Raph paused before answering. "Going on six days. Not that you were asleep the whole time. You'd sort of wake up, but you weren't making any sense."

"Six days? I was out for six days." Don said, feeling a pit in his stomach. "I lost a whole week of my life." And he had. There were no memories, no images, nothing.

"Well," Raph said, looking away, "We were just damn lucky you didn't check out permanently. Had Mike not been able to get the drugs you needed, you wouldn't have made it. You're lungs were giving out. And the thing that I kept thinking… If you had died, the last thing you would have done would have been to save my life."

Don felt heaviness surrounding him again. Despite his best efforts, his eyelids slid closed. "You're worth it..."

"So how do you feel, little buddy?"

"Heavy…. Out of it. How many pain meds… Did you give me?"

"You haven't had any," Raph said, looking concerned. "How does your chest feel? Hey Donny stay with me… How does your chest feel?"

"Hmm," Don said, sinking deeper into the warm blackness. The last thing he remembered was Raph gently placing his hand back on the bed.

When Don woke again, light filtered into the room from the doorway. He could hear the sounds of the television and he could smell soup cooking in the kitchen. He immediately wondered how much time has passed. His body still felt leaden, but he made the effort to turn to the right and left and saw Leo sitting cross legged on the floor next to him.

Don's voice was hoarse but he managed a loud whisper, "Hey, Leo."

Leo's eyes snapped open. "Donatello. Oh, thank God." Leo was on his feet in an instant. He grabbed one of Don's hands and put his other hand on Don's forehead. "How you feeling little buddy?"

Little buddy? Didn't Raph call him that last night… or the last time he woke up?

"How long," Don said, and then paused to make a complete sentence, "How long since… I woke up last time?"

"About twelve hours," Leo said, sitting down in the chair next to his bed. "You woke up last night at about 4 in the morning. It's almost 5 now. How are you feeling?"

Don considered Leo's question and then said, "Just tired." And he was, every muscle felt like it was strapped to the bed.

"You don't have any pain at all?" Leo asked.

"No," Don said. "I just feel heavy… foggy."

"Then I think it's safe to try this," Leo said picking up a set of plastic tubes about the size and thickness of a textbook.

Leo set the device on the bed and continued, "This is a lung testing thing. It has a real name, but Mike was the one who bought it, and he didn't remember. You go like this."

Leo put the tube on the bottom into his mouth and blew. A weight went up the tube and stayed at the top. Leo took his mouth away, and the weight fell back down, but it left a little mark where the weight had reached.

Leo cleaned the machine and reset it. "My lung function is normal. We need to check yours."

At different time and in other circumstances, Don probably knew what it was called. He tried for a few seconds to figure it out before deciding his brain was too foggy to even try. "Okay," he agreed, trying to sit up.

Leo helped him into a sitting position, being careful to watch the IVs. Leo held the device while with trembling fingers Don picked up the tube to blow into it.

Don took as deep of a breath as he could and then he blew it out. The weight trembled slightly and moved maybe a eighth of the way the shaft. Then it fell as Don started to gasp and cough. Leo set the device down and helped Don back into a resting position.

"Okay, Leo," Don said clutching his chest. "Now I'm in pain." His chest burned like he had just accidently put water up his nose. And it wasn't stopping. Don started to breath more shallowly, tiny little gasps of air.

"No!" Leo said sharply. He sat down on the bed next to Don and put one hand on his neck and the other on his chest. "Calm down. Breath slowly, easily. Deep soothing breaths."

The pain built, driving every other thought out of his head. "Yeah, sure," Don said through clenched teeth, still panting. He tried to control the pain. But every method he knew focused on breathing, and that's what hurt. Don clutched at his chest, and started to groan. His eyes started to water. "Leo," Don begged, not knowing what he wanted Leo to do.

Leo's sharp voice sounded over his head, "Mike, Raph get in here, I need help!"

Don didn't know whether his other brothers showed up within seconds or it took an hour. All he could do was deal with the pain coating his chest like a fiery blanket.

Mike's voice sounded panicked, "What's wrong Leo?" Then hopeful, "He's awake. Donny."

Mike's face appeared over him with a huge grin. Don managed to fix his watery eyes on his younger brother. "Mikey," he said pleading with him too.

"Donny are you in pain?" Mike asked, the smile evaporating, grabbing one of his hands.

Through clenched teeth, Don nodded, still gasping.

Mike reached out and started to rub circles on his forehead. "It's going to be all right bro. Raph is getting the morphine right now. Just hang on."

The circle motion was soothing, and Don felt himself starting to relax. It still hurt, but it wasn't so intense. He was getting control over it.

Raph appeared at his bedside. "Okay, Donny. I'm going to give you this now. You'll feel better really quick." Raph pushed the medicine into his IV.

It took almost five minutes, but then the pain started to recede into a dull roar. Then it shrank until Don felt every muscle in his body relax at once.

Don, feeling like he was floating, looked between his brothers. Then he whispered "Thanks."

"Can you rest again?" Mike asked, now gently stroking his arm.

Don nodded, and drifted away in his haze. He wasn't really asleep, but he certainly was no longer aware.

* * *

Mike was the last to leave the room. He wished that like Raph and Leo that he could have talked to Don. If anything that little incident left him feeling more nervous than when Don hadn't woken up at all.

Raph and Leo were both sitting on the couch, both staring at the television, which wasn't on.

"What happened?" Mike asked Leo when he joined them. "Did he wake up like that?"

"No," Leo said. "It was the test. It must have caused him to use parts of his lungs that he hadn't used in awhile. That's when the pain started. He couldn't get a deep breath to calm down, so it spiraled out of control."

"Well, he's comfortable now at least," Mike said, glancing back at the door. "What did the test show?"

Leo shook his head and pointed to it sitting in the middle of the coffee table. "See for yourself."

Mike picked it up and studied it. He felt his heart sink. "She was right wasn't she?"

"Looks that way," Leo said.

"What?" Raph asked, staring between the two of them.

"Mike's pharmacist friend told him that if he had been sick a long time and hadn't been properly treated, he could have permanent lung damage," Leo explained.

Mike continued, "She told me to check his lung functioning with that thing. A healthy adult can make that weight inside go to the top. Look at how far Don got it."

Raph studied it for a second and said, "Oh, that's bad."

"Really bad," Leo echoed. "Tomorrow we practice. We need to develop new strategies."

"What? Why?" Mike asked, feeling annoyed. It wasn't like they didn't have anything else to do.

Leo looked sad. "Don's alive… but ah… Do you really think he'll ever be able to fight again? And we've trained to be four. We need to retrain, as three."

"He just woke up," Raph said, angrily. "This was the first time he used that damn thing. He probably wasn't even half awake. You can't count him out already."

Mike sighed but he looked over to Raph and said, "He'll get better yes. But will he ever get enough better to fight? You would recover, live to fight another day. Leo would too. Not Donny. He's not fight back just so he can fight. Leo's right."

Raph stood up and stormed from the room, leaving the lair with the sound of a slamming door.

"He hates it when I agree with you," Mike said, smiling, feeling empty despite the attempt to lighten the mood.

Leo managed a weak smile before changing the subject. "How is Splinter doing?"

"He's either in a pain or he's medicated. I've been trying to keep him dosed up on the pain meds so they don't wear off. But he's getting stronger. He's awake for longer periods of time. He's been asking about Don and I haven't been able to figure out what to say."

"How about the truth?" Leo suggested, looking glum.

"I don't want to face the truth just yet," Mike said, with a small grin. "It's not fair to put him through it if I can't."

Leo smiled. "Then I guess we wait."

* * *

And they did. The next several days followed in a blissful monotony. Leo found a semblance of peace in the daily actions of caring for his father and brothers. Something like what he had felt in those long days living in the dense jungle undergrowth.

Raph seemed determined to help Don regain his strength. Raph brought him breakfast every day and then forced him to get up and walk. Each day, the walk was a bit longer. Raph was being pushy, but not terribly so. Leo figured that Raph was probably the only person who would push Don enough to do something physical. So he let Raph do his thing. It calmed Raph down anyways.

Don was still in pain, but it got better everyday, as his strength returned and breathing improved. His breathing improvement was measured in tiny graduations on the test tube. After five days, it still didn't rise above a fourth of what Leo himself could do. But that was still better than what it was when he first woke up.

Raph took every improvement as his own personal victory. He would show the results of each test to Leo and Mike, showing them that Don was gaining. Raph seemed determined that Don would fight again.

One afternoon, Leo headed to his room to meditate, and he found Don asleep on his bed with a book lying at arm's reach on the floor. Curious, Leo reached down and picked up the book. It was black with an apple on the cover.

"Twilight?" Leo muttered, staring at it. He read the back, starting laughing, and then stared back down at his brother. Don hadn't moved, but his eyes were open.

Leo couldn't help it. "Really, Donny? A vampire romance."

Don didn't move, but he said, "April gave it to me before she and Casey left on their trip. She said it was great. An instant classic."

"Do you like it?" Leo said, still half chuckling.

"Was I awake?" Don said, with a smile back. "It's not bad I suppose. If you're into that stuff."

"Are you?" Leo said.

"Me, not so much. Mikey would love it," Don said.

Leo laughed.

Then with obvious pain and stiffness, Don pushed himself off of his face and into a sitting position on Leo's bed. He rolled his neck and the pressed on his chest and gave a tiny groan.

"Well," Don said, rubbing his forehead. "I'll get out of here so you can meditate. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on your bed. Getting here wasn't half the fun."

"You don't have to go," Leo said, sitting cross legged on the floor across from him. "I'm surprised you're here. That's quite a trip for you. Why did you bother?"

Don gave him a half smile. "I was hiding."

"From Raph?"

Don nodded, "He said this morning that he wanted me to work with him twice a day now on physical therapy, as he calls it." Don snorted. "It's really weird. I know what I should be able to do, but it just can't do it. I try to walk twenty feet and everything muscle in my legs start to shake. I know why. The muscles can't get enough oxygen because my lungs are so damaged, and I'm still so weak… but still… annoying."

Leo gave him a sympathetic smile, "Yeah. But considering the circumstances…It could have been so much worse."

Don sighed, "Yeah. I suppose"

Something changed in Don's tone. At first he had been relaxed and more Don like than he remembered since he'd been back. Now he sounded closed and guarded. Like Leo was a stranger. And then to be so causal about his own death.

Leo narrowed his eyes, "You suppose? Did you want to die?"

Don smiled and shook his head, "No, I didn't want to die." Then the smile faded and he turned away. "But I have to admit… I wanted to not to hurt anymore. At some point, I figured that death would release me from the pain, so it couldn't be all bad."

Don wouldn't meet his eyes.

Leo was confused for a minute. He hadn't thought Don was in that much pain because of his illness. He was sick, yes, but in pain… Then it hit him "You don't mean the TB do you?"

Don made eye contact for one brief second before he turned away.

Leo continued, "You thought I was dead."

It was a statement and a question. A statement because he already knew the answer. A question because Leo hoped that Don would answer. He didn't care if Don admitted it or denied it. But Don stayed horribly quiet.

So Leo continued, "You kept everything going thinking that I was dead?"

Don turned back to face him, his face tortured. But his voice was still as calm as a crystal. "I did think you were dead... But it doesn't quite do it justice… I believed you were dead. And it tore a hole right out of the center of my chest. It hurt every single day. It was the last thing I thought about before I fell asleep, and the first thing that I remembered when I woke up.

"None of the others could bring themselves to that point. They agreed with me, they thought you probably were dead. But they didn't want to believe it. So they hung onto hope. It really didn't do them any good. Raph nearly exploded. Splinter got really depressed. Mike just wasn't himself."

Leo knew he needed to say something. But as the words came out he knew they weren't enough. "I'm sorry."

Don shrugged, "I know. But someone needed to take care of things. The only way I could do that was to force myself to believe that you were dead. Once I started to deal with pain of that, it got easier to help everyone else. We were all just grieving."

This time Leo waited, watching his brother's face intently until Don was ready to continue.

Eventually he did, "And you know what the worst of it was, even worse than knowing that I would never see you again…"

"What?" Leo asked softly.

"I knew I couldn't hold us together," Tear flashed in the corners. "We were drifting apart. It was only a matter of time before Raph and I would had ripped each other apart. The only thing we had left was Master Splinter. Had he died, Raph would have left. I didn't know what Mikey would have done, whether he would have gone with Raph or stayed here. But had we lost Splinter when he was so sick that time… You wouldn't have had a family to come back to bro."

Leo put a hand on Don's shoulder. "I'm here now. And everything is okay, thanks to you."

Don looked irritated, "But you just don't understand, I have grieved for you for almost a year. To me, Leo, you really were… in some ways still are… dead."

Leo became defensive, he withdrew his arm. "I'm not dead. I'm here now. And not going to leave you guys again."

"I know," Don said, sounding defeated. "But you don't get it. I don't think anyone would. The others never gave up hope that you'd be back. I did."

"What difference does that make?"

"Because to me you really were dead. I imagined that you were mauled by some animal, or writhed up in pain from some exotic disease. It hurt every moment. But after a while, I started to feel better. It's not that it didn't hurt, it did, but it got easier to bear. After awhile, it didn't hurt so much.

"I can't put you back into my life as easy as everyone else did. My brother came back, but he's still dead. I still have that pain, I remember it like I remember breaking my arm. You being back can't change that."

There was a long silence where they both started at each other. Leo felt his gut wrench and didn't know what to say.

Don went on with a half smile, "I should probably go find an online quack psychologist to help me work through this one. Well… it doesn't matter anyways. You're here now. You're not dead. I'm not dead. And eventually I'll get everything worked out in my screwed up head. In the meantime, Raph is going to torture me with his "physical therapy" and you need your alone time. So I'll go now."

Leo watched as Don pulled himself unsteadily to his feet. The muscles in his legs visibly trembled as he took his first couple of steps. Leo watched him go, wanting to help, and not knowing how. When Don reached the door frame, he grabbed it with his hands and gently lowered himself back to the floor. He panted like he had been running for twenty minutes, not like he had just walked twenty feet.

Then Leo had a moment of clarity, and for the first time in a long time, he knew what he needed to do.

"You know what Donny," Leo said, standing and walking over to him. "Mikey told me something the other day, quite profound really. He said, "When I knew better, I did better.""

"Maya Angelo," Don said, nodding. "So he actually read it. I didn't think he would."

"I know better, now, brother. I will do better. Now."

Leo dropped to his knees and bowed to Don, which meant he had to rest his forehead on the floor since Don was sitting.

While bowing, keeping his eyes lowered he said, "I was charged when I was sixteen as our Master's chief acolyte, the student who would one day become master. I executed my role faithfully for four years, until the day eighteen months ago when I found myself lost in so many ways. In the eyes of my family, I was dead.

"You, Donatello, without complaint, took on the duties that I left you and became a master in your own right. Not of ninjitsu, but as the servant who is the master, in the traditions that surround Bushido. While you were taking care of our family, Raphael found a purpose, Master Splinter was cared for, and Michelangelo grew into his own.

"Since I have been back, I took the duties back out of your hands. I have faired badly. Master Splinter took ill without my notice. Raphael nearly died in a poorly executed plan and you became deathly ill.

"I tried to take leadership from you, without understanding that it couldn't be done. I can't take something that isn't mine. We all have suffered from my mistake.

"I beg your forgiveness, dearest brother. From the bottom of my heart. All I can do now is try to aspire to your level of service."

Leo felt Don's clammy fingers touch his shoulder and Leo sat up out of his bow.

Don looked confused. "Leo, don't bow to me. I'm not a master of anything. You are the rightful leader of this clan after Splinter. No one, not even Raph, would dispute that you are the most capable."

Leo shook his head, "I might be the most capable ninja, but you are the most compassionate. You put the needs of the family before your own. You have more honor.

"For awhile there, Michelangelo and I didn't know if you could recover. We had started the antibiotics, but you still were so sick. I had two days of not knowing if you would live or die. Those were probably the two worse days of my whole life. And I put you and Mikey, and Raph and Master Splinter through that everyday for over a year. I didn't even consider what it would do to you. It's inexcusable. I'm sorry. I'll never do it again."

Tears started running hard and fast down Don cheeks.

Don stammered, "I missed you so much."

Leo pulled him into a hug as his eyes started to burn too.

"Donny, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

They sat together, both silently crying until Leo felt Don's arms fall to his sides.

Eventually Leo mumbled, "We should get you to bed. You're going to weak for a long time. You need rest little buddy."

"Yeah, that'd be good," Don mumbled.

Leo pulled Don up and helped Don to his bed. Leo covered him up with a blanket. Leo was turning to leave when Don grabbed his hand.

No words came out of his brother's mouth. But Leo understood what he was asking.

"Sure Donny. I'll stay. You rest."

With that his brother's hand fell away and Don was asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Raph found normal life boring. For the last two weeks, his entire existence focused on caring for his brother and father. Not that he regretted it. Not that would rather being doing something else. He didn't. It just normal life didn't sit well with him.

It didn't take long before he broke up a robbery while he was out getting some air. The next night he stopped a mugging. He had to do it, it was a compulsion. He had no tolerance for people who hurt people. He hurt them more, to make sure they understood how it felt.

While he was out, trying not to find more crimes to stop but half hoping he would, he usually grabbed a paper for Donny.

Don was still weak. Weaker than Raph thought possible. Don couldn't walk across the entire lair without having to stop to rest. He couldn't walk up the stairs without breaking into a coughing fit. He still slept more than a baby ever could. But on the bright side, Don asleep in his room was very much like Don disappearing in his lab, so Raph almost felt like things were getting back to normal.

The only thing that wasn't normal was the triangle strategies that Leo kept trying in practice. It just didn't work. No matter what Leo did, they kept reverting to making a place for Don in their formation. A square. Or they would pair off back to back, leaving the third man out. The only bright spot was that even master in training Leo kept making the same mistake.

After one practice, Leo said in frustration, "It shouldn't be this hard. It's just angles. We need to keep the angles between us shallower, then we'd be a triangle instead of a square."

Mike cracked a smile, "Yeah well… we've been training like this for over ten years. Old habits die hard. We'd be better off filling the hole."

"That's right," Raph said. "Donny'll get better and we'll be back in business."

"I was thinking Casey," Mike said. "As soon as he and April get back from their "not" romantic getaway to Spain."

"Neither of those is going to happen," Leo said. "Casey won't fight with us enough to fill the spot, and Donny, well…"

"It could happen Leo," Raph shot back, anger flicking his insides "He can beat it."

"I'm not saying he can't," Leo said, "But it's going to take a very long time. And if you want to patrol again in the next nine months, and I'm assuming you do, then we need to fix this problem."

"If you ask me…" Mike began.

"And no one did," Raph said, even more irritated.

"Ahem…" Mike continued, "It's a sight thing. If we're doing this right, I can't see either of you. So I move so I can see you, and then it's better. More comfy."

"You might be on to something there," Leo said thoughtfully. "I always try to keep the two of you in my peripheral vision.

"So scratch the triangle," Raph suggested. "Let's try an arrowhead."

"What?" Leo asked.

"An arrowhead," Raph repeated. "You in front, and Mike and I flank either side of you a few steps back, much closer together.. You could see us and Mike and I could collapse into a circle if someone gets behind us."

Leo raised his eyeridge. "Yeah, that might work. Let's give it a shot."

It worked, but that didn't stop his burning desire to have his brother fighting next to him. He wasn't even sure why it mattered so much. But he found himself in Don's room morning after morning virtually begging Don to get out of bed.

"Aren't you getting sick of this yet?" Don asked him one morning, after Raph had helped him sit up.

"No," Raph said.

"Bummer," Don said, and slipping from Raph's grasp he dropped back down on his stomach, burying his head in the pillow.

"What? You don't want to get better?" Raph asked.

Don's answer was muffled by the pillow, so Raph grabbed his shell and roughly pulled him back into a sitting position.

"What did you say?" Raph asked, annoyed.

"I said, of course I want to get better. But I also want to sleep, to just lay here undisturbed for hours and hours."

"That's not healthy."

"I'm not saying it is. But it's what I want to do," Don said, yawning.

"You wouldn't let any of us get away with that," Raph shot back.

"Of course I wouldn't, which is why I'm not complaining. Very much. Let's just get this over with."

Don put his feet on the ground and started to haul himself into a standing position. Raph grabbed him by the arm to help. Donny yelped in pain.

"Watch the IV," Don cried, trying to push the hand off his arm.

"Sorry," Raph muttered, letting go.

Don nearly fell, but Raph grabbed him by the shoulder and got him steady again. Don was still getting IV meds twice a day, so he still needed the IV port in his arm. He'd still be getting them for another month and then they would try to transition both Splinter and him to pills, like everyone else was taking. The end result of that was that Don had a port sticking out of arm most days. And the days he didn't Raph had to put another one in.

Raph managed to get Don to walk to the dojo, around it three time and then back to the living room, where his little bro collapsed into the couch, panting. While Raph went to find them something to eat, Don would take his lung function test. It was still not even half, but he was gaining, bit by bit.

That day, by the time Raph got some breakfast out of Mikey, Don had fallen asleep on the couch. Raph woke him, made sure he ate, and then tried to talk to him. He told him about some punks that he stopped robbing a convenience store and then talked about a new TV show he liked.

Don listened very attentively, in fact he was soaking up everything Raph said like Raph was the most interesting person Don had ever talked too. But he didn't have much to add.

Finally when Raph had talked himself into a corner and he had nothing else to say, he asked, "Don't you have anything to talk about? Anything you're going to make when you're feeling better. A new security system, upgrades to my bike, a new gaming system for Mikey? Upgrades to my bike? Anything?"

Don shook his head, "My head's still fuzzy. Like this thing," He picked up the lung function tester. "This has a real name, I know it's some kind of pulmonary something. But I can't remember. I've tried. I've spend hours trying to come up with it. But nothing. I tried to think of something that I could do when I'm awake and even that's hard. You know what it feels like?"

"What?"

"It feel like I'm drunk most of the time. I can't think straight, I can't walk straight, and I'm half sick to my stomach."

"Why? You're not any pain meds or anything."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's just exhaustion. Exhaustion and alcohol are pretty similar. I mean you have to be really really tired, but it can happen."

Raph was silent for a minute and then it hit him. "Wait just a second, _little_ brother," Raph said, feeling irritated. "How would you know?"

"Huh?"

"How would you know what it feels like to be drunk?"

Don looked guilty.

"You didn't," Raph shot at him. "You're supposed to be the smart one."

"What do you expect? I was supposed to be in charge and you were running off every night, despite everything I said or did. Splinter was depressed, and Mikey well, he was Mikey. It wasn't an easy time for me."

Raph shook his head.

"Can you honestly tell me that you haven't," Don shot back.

Raph stayed silent.

"I thought not," Don said wryly. "It's just us middle children. We're troublemakers."

Raph shook his head. "Okay, that ain't the point. The point is that you aren't doing anything and that ain't like you."

"And my point is that I'm too tired to do anything. I don't even feel like sitting up long enough to go internet surfing. If I did, I would have figured out what this thing was called about a week ago." Don said, pushing the lung testing device toward him.

"You could read," Raph suggested.

"I do. Then I fall asleep. Nothing here keeps my interest long enough to keep me awake."

"Then I'll get you something when I'm out."

After that, every day, Raph had been scrounging reading materials from trash cans all over the city. He pulled Don everything he could find. Mostly he got copies of the New York Times, but he also managed to scrounge a few couple of the Wall Street Journal, or an occasional magazine that he thought Don would like, and some he knew Don wouldn't. But the look on Don's face when he presented his brother Cosmo was worth the effort.

That particular day he managed to only find one newspaper, but it was intact, a copy of the Times. Raph found Don half asleep on the couch, hit him with the paper, which woke him, and then went to the kitchen to find something to eat.

When he got back into the living room, Don's eyes were wide and his face pale. He eyes were tracking so fast across the paper, his pupils looked blurred.

"What's the matter?" Raph asked.

"We're in big trouble," Don replied.

A half an hour later, when Raph had managed to find everyone, Mike couldn't believe his ears. "Wait a minute. You're telling me that the police, the NYPD, are looking for me."

"Yeah," Don said. He picked up the paper and read, "The NYPD are looking for Mike Hamato, the owner, operator of "Cowabunga Carl's Birthday Party Service" in regards to the burglary at Sal's Quickie Mart a month ago. A former customer of Hamato's told the NYPD that the figure fleeing the scene of the crime could have been Hamato, dressed in his turtle costume that he uses for birthday parties.

"Police have not been able to locate Mr. Hamato. His business phone is disconnected, his mailbox is a P.O Box which hasn't been checked in several weeks. The police contacted several other of his known clients. Only one had seen in him recently. Two weeks ago, Sally Witten, a pharmacist at Witten Family Pharmacy, said that Hamato came in to fill several prescriptions for himself, his brothers and his father. Apparently his older brother Leonardo Hamato and his father Yoshi Hamato are ill in Costa Rica with Tuberculosis. Hamato stated at that time that he and the remainder of his family, Raphael and Donatello Hamato were heading to Costa Rica to bring them home.

"Police tracked the insurance card used at the pharmacy to a Donatello Hamato, who works for Computer Technical Services as a customer service representative. Apparently Donatello "Don" Hamato, 22 a recent grad of the Pine Street Technical College's online degree program, has taken a short term leave of absence do to an illness, which when they last talked to Don's brother Mike, doctors thought it was probably tuberculosis that he got from his brother in Central America. Don Hamato also didn't list an address, just a P.O. Box, the same that Mike Hamato used for his Cowbunga Carl Birthday Party Service.

"Several attempts were made to contact Don Hamato by phone, but none were successful.

If anyone has any information about either Mike or Donatello Hamato, or where to contact them, they should contact the NYPD directly."

Mike sighed and gave Don a mournful look, "I think our house of cards fell in dude."

"Wait," Don said, "It gets worse."

"Worse?" Leo asked.

Don nodded and picked up the paper and started reading a second article.

"Criminal charges dropped in warehouse raid. The district attorneys office threw the case against, Hunter Mason aka Mr. Hun., out of court today due to lack of evidence.

"Three weeks ago, police officers raided the warehouse owned by Hun after receiving a phone call that a minor had been restrained against his will. After arriving at the warehouse, the police found a gun battle in process between the occupants of the warehouse, employees of Hun, and an unknown assailant. Testimony from the witnesses say that the assailant broke into the warehouse and starting shooting. He led the warehouse employees out of the building where the police were waiting.

"The police suspect a set up. The phone call that triggered the police visit traced to a pay phone on 23rd Avenue. The caller identified himself as Mike Phillips and gave his address. The address later traced to the Comfort Living Nursing Home. As it turns out there is a Michael Phillips living at the Comfort Living Nursing Home. Mr. Phillips, 100 years old, suffers from dementia. When interviewed, he insisted that he did call the police at a pay phone because he wanted their help to find his little brother Jimmy. James Phillips, 97, also lives at the facility, in the same room with his brother. Staff insist that neither brother left the facility on the night in question.

"Hun thinks he's being targeted. '"I've had three break ins in less than a week,"' he told reporters. '"One of those time, the (sic) dude who came in shot me."' Police officials claim that Mr. Hun never reported the break ins or the alleged injury so they cannot confirm his report.

"The criminal charges that were filed after the altercation at his warehouse were dropped. Mr. Hun pleaded no contest to several lesser misdemeanor charges, including discharging a weapon in city limits and disturbing the peace. Hun will pay over $10,000 in fines but will serve no jail time."

After Don had finished reading, Raph said, "He shot me in front of the police and all he gets is disturbing the peace?"

"No," Mike said, "He got charged for shooting at you. Just not hitting you."

"You can't press charges," Don said sighing. "Victimless crimes are very hard to prosecute and the courts are so overloaded, that they don't even try."

"I oughta shove my sai up his…" Raph began.

Leo cut him off, "Yes, actually… we… should. There is someone going on there. He didn't even fight the charges. We're talking ten thousand in fines that he didn't fight."

"But what about the police trying to track me down?" Mike asked in his whiny angry voice.. "I'm good looking and all… but I don't want to see my face on wanted posters."

"They're trying to try me down too. I don't want to lose my job over this," Don said turning to look at Leo.

"That's a stretch," Raph shot back. "And besides, would that be so bad?"

"Well, I enjoy it," Don said tersely. "You enjoy the money that I bring in."

"Look," Leo said, his voice calm, "We'll get this figured out. But we need to take it one step at a time. And the first step is to clear up Mike's name with the police."

"How are we going to do that?" Don asked.

"I'm sure you will think of something," Leo said with a smile. "While you work on that Raph and I will figure out a strategy for Hun."

"Whoa," Don said. "Hang on. You want me to fix the whole mess with the cops?"

"Yeah," Leo said with a confident smile. "You seem like you're feeling better. Should be a snap."

"A snap?" Don asked, looked annoyed.

"Well, sure," Leo said, still smiling. "For you, with Mike's help. Between his creativity and your logic you two should make up a convincing story that fills in all the holes. And besides, this really is your mess."

Mike glanced over to Don, who looked back at him skeptically. "We'll get it worked out Don-san… don't worry."

"Who's worried?" Don mumbled, shaking his head. Then standing up he said, "I'm going to go check on Master Splinter. I'll chat with you later Mikey."

Leo gestured to Raph, "Let's head to my room. I have a couple of ideas that I worked out in the jungle that might be good for a situation just like this."

Raph looked curious despite himself and followed Leo out of the room.

Mike sat in the middle of the now empty living room and a sense of ease passed over him. Warm and heavy, it settled on his shoulders like a wool blanket and then ran through his body like sitting in a hot sauna. Everything had changed, but at that moment everything was okay too. He just hoped it stayed that way.


	14. Chapter 14

_a/n: After a long hiatus, thanks to Mendeia for calling me out of pseudo retirement to work on piece, at least publish what's already been written... _

* * *

"NYPD, can I help you?"

Don took a deep breath, "I hope so. My name is Don Hamato. I heard that the police wanted to talk to me?"

"Hmm," the woman on the other end said. Then there was a pause. "Oh, right, here it is. Yes. Can you hold while I transfer you to an officer?"

"Sure," Don said, feeling his stomach flutter.

After a few moments, a gruffer voice said, "Sergeant Williams."

"Uh… Hi," Don said slowly. "I'm Don Hamato, I heard you wanted to talk to me or my brother Mike?"

"Yeah, about the robbery at Sal's Quickie Mart," the officer said sounding distracted.

"Yeah…" Don said, "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Hang on, I need to get the right file."

There was a shuffling on the other end and Don waited trying to calm his nerves by meditating on the sound of the paper. Finally the guy said, "Right, so you're Donatello Hamato?"

"Yep," Don agreed. "But I go by Don."

"Okay. Don. You work at Computer Technical Services as a customer service rep?"

"Yep," Don said again and then he coughed again, which still sounded like his lungs hated the world.

"That's right," the officer commented, "You've been sick."

"Oh yeah," Don said, sighing. "Tuberculosis. I've been quarantined. Luckily I work virtually, so I should be able to start work again here in a week or so. But I'm afraid, I won't seeing anyone anytime soon."

"How long are you quarantined?" the officer asked.

"I don't know. The doctor's were pretty vague."

"Where is here? Where do you live?"

"Those are two different questions. As of right this minute, I'm at a farmhouse upstate belonging to a friend of mine. His name is Casey Jones. It's his grandpa's old place. When we all got sick, me, my dad, my oldest brother, our whole family headed up here. We'll probably be here a while longer. As for where we live, we're currently between addresses."

"You don't have permanent address?" the cop asked, sounding incredulous.

"Nope," Don agreed.

"So, you're currently homeless?"

"Well, yeah. I suppose that's what you'd call it," Don said. "My dad is not exactly normal. He refuses to show his face to anyone except his family and a few close friends. For most of my life, I lived in an abandoned pump station on the west side."

"You're serious?" the officer asked.

"Yeah. We're between places right now. We've lived in old warehouses, in abandoned farms, sewer junctions. Casey let us use the farm until we get better."

"How did you get tuberculosis?"

"My oldest brother Leo went on a mission trip to Costa Rica. He brought it back with him, though he didn't know it. He gave it to me and my Dad. My other brothers seem fine, but they're being treated for the latent infection."

"So you're homeless with tuberculosis, hanging around on a farm upstate."

"Yeah," Don said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Fine," the officer said, sounding annoyed, "Do you know about the robbery? The person in the turtle costume?"

"Yes, I do actually. It was my brother Mike's turtle suit that he uses for his parties. But it wasn't him."

"So who was it? Or was it stolen when you moved out of the sewer junction?"

Don smiled, at least it was going the way he thought it would. "No, it wasn't stolen. It was my other brother Raph. He wears it from time to time as a joke, scaring people, going to bars, hanging out with his buddy. He had it on that night. He was going to try and scare our friend Casey."

"So he was there," the cop said, incredulously.

"Yeah," Don said. "My brother Raph was there that night. He said he thought he saw some kids trying to rob the place, so he rushed over, but he running too fast and with the costume on, he couldn't change directions like he normally would have been able to do. So he ran straight into the wall. The kids took off with all the money and he didn't want to look like a fool - or at least more of a fool - so he took off."

"Really?" if possible, the cop sounded even more incredulous.

"Yeah, really," Don said calmly. "I take it you don't believe me?"

"Would you believe you?" the officer asked. "I mean come on, four homeless guys with their dad, three who have an exotic disease, and one who runs around in a turtle costume for fun."

"Well," Don admitted, "we certainly aren't normal. But what is normal exactly? We certainly aren't the only homeless family you've ever met, right? And as you know, a large number of homeless people suffer from mental illness. It's sad really. My dad is no different. He has antropophobia, which is an extreme fear of being around other people. At least that what I figure, he's never been diagnosed. We didn't get to go to school, or go the doctor or anything, he was that terrified."

"That's abuse," the officer said. "You should be placed in state care."

"Well, I'm in my twenties, so it's a bit late for that."

"Why don't you leave now? It says here that you have a degree and are working, which would be pretty difficult if you never went to school."

"Lots of people are homeschooled, that's not crime. The fact that he never checked into with the state about our education was, but like I said, there isn't anything I can do about it now. As for the first question, I couldn't leave. I'm the only one who can work. See, my dad doesn't mind my job since I can work without being seen. My dad would totally flip if the others worked because they would have to be seen. I'm the only member of my family that can make any money, can help us at all."

"So how did your brother do his party service then?"

"The turtle costume. No one could see his face."

The officer sighed, "Is there anyone who can collaborate your history."

"Yeah, there's a guy named Casey Jones. Right now he's in Spain with his wife. They buy and sell antiques. They should be back in about a month. But I do have his cell phone if you'd like. They've known us for awhile. My brother Raph saved his wife from being assaulted one night on the way home from getting takeout."

"Your dad was okay with that?"

"Well, no, but there wasn't much choice. Raph couldn't have just let her die. Now Dad's okay with them."

There was a long pause on the line. Don waited, wanting to know the look on the other's man's face.

Finally the cop went on, "Well, kid, I don't know if I believe you or not. But, I need to fill out paperwork on these case, so give me your full name"

"Donatello Hamato."

"Do you have a middle name?"

"No, my name is long enough as it is."

"You already told me that you didn't have a permanent address. Do you have a phone number?"

Don gave him his shell cell number.

"Birthday?"

"Umm. I really don't know." Don mumbled.

"You don't know your own birthday?" the cop said exasperated.

"My real one? No. I can give you the one my father came up with. Do you want that?"

"You don't know your real birthday?"

"No, not for sure."

The cop sounded irritated, "Why the hell not?"

"Well…. I have a theory. Hypothetically, how would a single man, who is afraid of all humanity, end up with four kids?"

"What are you implying?"

"That I'm not Donatello Hamato, but Lord knows who I really am or who my brothers are. All I can get from my father is that he took the four of us from a very bad situation. He told me that had he not taken us in, we would have died. I've always assumed our biological parents were abusive or we were abandoned."

"None of you remember. Are you the oldest? Are all your brother younger than you?"

"We don't actually know our ages any more than we know our birthdays. We've guessed that Leo is the oldest, then Raph, then me, then Mike. Mike and I certainly don't remember anything about our biological parents. If Raph or Leo remember something, they've been holding out on us."

"So no birthday…. What's your social?"

"I don't have one. I don't have a birth certificate so I can't get one. And if I tried to get a birth certificate, and they found out that my dad kidnapped me as a child, then you guys might try to arrest him. And besides, I would have figure out who my actual parents were and if they are as bad as I think they are, I doubt I want to know."

"They could be wonderful people and your father could be a manipulative bastard who took you and used you."

Don smiled and hoped it came through in his voice. "My father has his issues yes, about the world at large. But he's a good man, decent and honorable. He follows the code of Bushido and is a martial artist. He said I would have died if he hadn't done something, I believe him."

"Well, so you have no address, no birthday, no social security number. How do I know that you even exist?"

"Legally, I don't exist. But I do know who robbed your convenience store. It was the Purple Dragons. If you slow the camera footage down you can see the real criminals leaving the store, and one of them has a purple dragon on the back of his coat. It wasn't my brother. The proof is on the camera. The only thing my brother did in his stupid turtle outfit is run straight into a wall. Which last time I checked, although painful, isn't a crime."

Don was met with a long silence.

"Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up." Don said and as he coughed again, he was beginning to feel a bit lightheaded. "Look, I'm not feeling the greatest. Can I get going?"

"No. How would you know about the security camera? That footage is housed in secured police database archives."

"Yeah it was encoded. It took me almost an hour to hack your mainframe and get it," Don said, agreeing with sigh.

"You just admitted to violating data laws."

"The way I look at it, I just told you how to find the criminals in a robbery and I informed you that your cyber security sucks. Your guys should really get on that."

"I'm going to get a warrant for your arrest," the cop shouted at him.

"And arrest me how? You can't find me. My cell phone doesn't have a tracker and I know that because I built it myself. The phone number has several masks so you can't backtrack it. So you're left with one option. Are you going to search every farmhouse in upstate New York?"

"You little…" he proceeded to hurl one curse word after another at Don until he was out of breath.

"Feel better?" Don asked.

"No," the cop said.

"Look," Don said, "I tell you what.. I'll give you the exact way that I was able to break into your system. You can forward the security hole to your IT people and they can get it fixed so that no one else can do what I just did. Consultants usually get around $10,000 for these types of services. Can we consider this a service rendered in lieu of formal charges?"

"No," the cop said. "You're a lying bastard. There probably isn't even a security hole."

"Really, I'm not lying, about anything. Check your inbox. It's already done."

There was a pause, and Don had to smile when the man said swore under his breath.

"Look. Believe me or not. But the purple dragons have something big going down. Check that camera footage. Tell the tech to slow it down to 1/3200 speed. Then you'll see what I mean. They'll find them."

The cop was silent for a long time and Don hacked again.

Finally Don said in a hoarse voice, "Look, I really do need to get going. If you want anything else, you can call me. I'll be glad to talk. But you'll never find me." A horrible hacking cough burned it's way out of his chest. "Not that you would want to at this point."

"I'll be in touch," the cop said.

"Then I look forward to hearing from you," Don said and he waited until he heard the dial tone on the other end.

Mike and Raph were watching him intently.

Don smiled at them, "That is one confused cop."

Raph shook his head at him, hit him in the shoulder and then walked out of the room, shaking his head.

Mike just laughed, "And you guys say that I'm the funny one."

Don found himself laughing too, "He'll be back."

"Why?" Mike said still chuckling.

"Trust me," Don smiled at his brother. "The hole in their security was huge. As soon as they see what I did, they be thankful that I pointed it out. But the rest of it, he's not going to know what to believe."

"That sounds like the story of my life, dude," Mike said.

"It was the story of your life," Don pointed out.

Mike chuckled, "My point exactly."

* * *

Raph was still shaking his head at Donny when he went into check on Splinter. The old rat was awake, quietly watching the television that Raph put into his room. Don illness had hit him mostly in the lungs. Splinter illness was centered around his joints. What mobility he had was now extremely limited. When he moved, he was in pain, so Leo, Mike, and he had worked hard so he wouldn't have to move. They brought him food, got a television hooked up in his room, and they took turns sitting with him for periods during the day. It was hard on everyone, especially on the old rat himself. Splinter seemed to be slipping into a depression. But as Donny pointed out, when he was well enough to understand what was going on, had Splinter's illness centered in his lungs, after the pneumonia he had last year, Splinter most likely wouldn't have survived at all.

Leo was sitting with Splinter when Raph walked into the room. The two were watching a Spanish Soap Opera.

Leo's eyes narrowed briefly and then shook his head with a chuckle.

"What my son?" Splinter asked.

"Let's just say the translation on the screen is pretty bad," Leo said. "They must not have Spanish language censors."

"What did he say?" Splinter asked.

"You would not allow language like that in this household Sensei, so I will not repeat it."

Raph shot him a questioning look, and Leo mouthed the words to him. Raph started to laugh, if his master only knew the smut he was watching.

"What up Raph?" Leo asked with a smile.

"Don's off the phone," he said with a head nod back to the lab. "I'm sure Mikey is waiting to fill you in."

Splinter said, "Is this the matter with the police that you were telling me of, Leonardo?"

"I assume so," Leo said looking at Raph for confirmation.

Raph nodded.

"Did it go well my son?" Splinter asked Raph.

"From what I heard, Donny confused the guy to the point where he didn't even know what his own name was anymore. So yeah, job well done."

Splinter smiled, "Ah yes, Donatello is quite confusing even when he does not intend to. Purposeful confusion on your brother's part is an attack that has no defense."

Leo and Raph both chucked at that.

"I'll go talk to him," Leo said. "You going stay here Raph?"

"Yeah, me and Splinter need to chat. I have something that I can't figure out."

As Leo left the room, Raph flipped off the television.

"What troubles you my son?"

"Donny," Raph said looking at his master, cuddled deeply into the folds of the blankets.

Immediately Splinter's ears pricked up in concern, "Is he relapsing? The cough?"

Raph shook his head, "No, no. He's not any sicker than he was before. That's not I'm saying. You put a lot on him, you know. And Leo too. I wondered, why?"

Splinter stared at Raph in bafflement.

Raph continued, "Donny told me why you put him in charge when Leo was gone, instead of me. And then he told me why you sent Leo away."

Splinter seemed to understand, "What reason did Donatello give?"

"He told me that you were preparing him and Leo for your death. That you wanted Leo to be able to function on his own as a leader and that you wanted Donny to…" the words caught in his throat… "to help you die."

Splinter nodded, "Yes, that was true."

"But why?"

Splinter sighed. "Many reasons my son, not all of which were, in hindsight, noble."

Raph sat down on the bed next to his father and waited until the story came out.

Finally Splinter said, "Leonardo has always been the most mature of all of you, even when you were small. He was responsible, understood the rules to the point where he followed them better than I could. But he had no confidence in himself. At the time, you and Leonardo were fighting, fighting, always fighting. Leo had already visited the ancient one. I sent him away to restore peace and to find his confidence."

"And he didn't?" Raph asked.

"It is there," Splinter said with some force, "But I tried to force it out of him before he was ready. I realized after he didn't come back that perhaps I pushed him too hard. Had I waited, allowed him to come into his own… perhaps things would be different now."

Splinter shifted uncomfortably in his bed. Moving the blankets around a bit, Raph helped him find a more comfortable spot. They lapsed into a smooth silence.

Finally Raph asked, "What about Donny?"

Splinter looked truly guilty, before staring off at the wall behind Raph's head. "Donatello." Then he let out a long sigh.

"Have you noticed, with your brother, that he fills in… If there is no doctor, Donatello studies medicine. If there is no heater, Donatello makes one. If there is no Leonardo…"

Raph nodded and then felt a stab of guilt again under his ribs.

Splinter continued, "As for the other part, I was being selfish. I was worried more about my pain more than the pain that I would cause. Soon after Leo left, I realized that I what I asked of Donatello wasn't fair. I couldn't expect him to fill in for Leonardo, especially when Leonardo himself had been struggling. I realized how I would have felt if my master Yoshi had asked of me what I asked of Donatello. But I couldn't undo what had been done. Leonardo was gone. The request was already made."

Raph nodded again, a curt nod, more guilt. "So why didn't ya ever try to get me to stop fighting with Leo. Or asked me to stop? Or expect me to take Leo's place?"

Splinter smiled sadly, "You, of all of my sons, are the only one will not be bullied into being something that he is not. Not even by me."

Raph sighed, "Is that a compliment or a complaint?"

Splinter gave Raph a warm smile now, "It is truth, how you decide to understand it is your choice."

Raph looked back at his master, "Well, with all due respect, you hurt Donny and Leo. I know you didn't mean too, but that's the truth too."

They were silent for a minute while Splinter considered Raph with his huge brown eyes. Finally, Splinter took Raph's hand into his warm furry one. "Thank you my son. I will meditate on how to help this situation. But for now, will you sit with me and watch Mis Amor Hoy."

Raph found a spot on the floor next to the bed. "Sure, but I don't speak Spanish, like Leo. I don't know what they're saying."

"Neither do I my son. I just like the action."

Raph looked over at his sensei, open and shut his mouth several times, and then turned back to the television.


	15. Chapter 15

A few days later, Leo brought Splinter some of Mikey's newest soup creations, butternut squash, which looked like the ooze that had mutated them, only orange instead of green. What looked exactly like the green ooze was the split pea soup that Mike had made the week before. Leo and Raph both refused to try the green pasty substance, but Don, who couldn't run away, had some, said it didn't taste too bad, if you could get over the color.

Leo brought in the Technicolor soup and set on his father's bedside table, where he had been taking his meals. Leo was surprised to see Donny, sound asleep, in bed with his father. Splinter was stroking Don's forehead gently.

Leo raised his eye ridge and whispered, "Is he okay?"

Splinter nodded with a small smile, a voice just above a whisper. "I believe he is hiding."

Leo laughed softly, "Seems to be a running theme of his life."

Splinter sighed, "Perhaps not the best way to cope. But he's been through much. As have you all."

Mike showed up at the door with a bowl of soup himself. "Hey, Leo have you seen Donny?"

Leo pointed to the bed.

Mike nodded his head in approval, a wicked smile spreading across his face, "Oh yeah. Ultimate hiding spot."

Raph appeared behind him, "Where's Donny… Oh."

Raph's voice roused Donatello where the other's hadn't. "Come on Raph," Donny asked, without opening his eyes. "Can't I just sleep?"

Mike snickered, "Dude, do you have any idea where you are?"

Don opened his eyes, and saw that every member or his family was staring at him. Then he lifted his head off the pillow and took in his surroundings. He took in Splinter next to him and his cheeks flushed brilliantly pink. He let his drop on back on the pillow and closed his eyes again.

With his eyes still closed he asked, "So Mikey, what's the probability that you'll be nice and never mention this again."

Mike laughed, "Never talk about this again? Dude, you know me better than that. This one is way too good to pass up."

"That's what I figured," Don said. His eyes flicked over to Raph. "Can I take the afternoon off? Please."

It was Splinter who answered, "My sons, let's all take the afternoon off, as your brother suggested. How do you call it… movie marathon."

"That's what I'm taking about," Mike said with a half hop. "I'll go make the popcorn." He handed Leo the bowl he was holding, and took off for the kitchen.

Raph gave Don a half smile, "Guess you're off the hook man. I'll go get the DVD player and grab some movies. We're having it in here?"

With a nod from Splinter, Raph headed out of the room as well. Leo set the two bowls of soup on the table beside the bed. He was figuring out how many chairs he would need, when Splinter grabbed his hand. Leo turned to see that his father had grabbed Don's hand as well.

"My sons," Splinter said gravely. "My brave, noble sons. I ask both of you to forgive me."

Leo felt something uneasy stir in his gut, but before he could say anything Don replied.

"For what?"

"For my own selfish reasons, I burdened you both. Please forgive me."

"Master Splinter, you don't now, nor would you ever need our forgiveness," Donny said, sitting up. "You are our father. Without you, we all would have died. You saved us."

Splinter smiled, "No more and no less than you saved me. And when a person makes a mistake, even a parent, they should admit that they're wrong. Try to make amends. For my mistakes, my selfishness, I ask for your forgiveness."

Don had gone pale, and Leo again felt his stomach clench.

Splinter looked to Leo, "I was wrong to push you so hard. The mark of leadership, the quality that makes you a great leader has always been within you. You have strength to carry this family. Not in the way that I have done so, which is what I expected. You will be better. You will lead like Leonardo. Bring your strengths to your heart."

Leo nodded and found that his eyes were burning.

Splinter turned toward Don, who held up his hand. "Please don't. Just don't."

"Please, Donatello. I have hurt you, expected things of you that were not kind or fair. Let me.."

Don interrupted, "Please, don't. I just… I can't…"

Splinter gave Don a long sad stare and brown eyes locked for several seconds. Splinter nodded to Don and instead put his hand on his shoulder. Don broke eye contact first and he laid back down again turning away from them, Splinter's hand still resting on his shoulder.

Raph came back in with a DVD player and a handful of DVDs. He frowned as he walked passed Leo and then bumped Leo with his elbow. "Fearless?"

Leo's flicked his eyes to the bed where Don face was buried in the bed. Don's shoulders where shaking. Splinter's was gently rubbing circles on his neck. Mike came in and nearly ran into Raph and Leo.

"What?" Mike asked as he looked over to where they were staring. Then his eye ridges shot up. He thrust the bowl with popcorn into Leo's hands and then headed over the bed. He put his hand on his brother's other shoulder. "Donny, are you okay?"

Raph answered, "What do you think dweeb?"

Mike shot Raph a cold look and then turned back to Donny, "Hey, bro, come on." He shook Don's shoulder. "Come on. Look at me." There was power of a kind in Mike's command. A gentle force.

Don looked up at Mikey, his entire face was wet and new tears streamed down his cheeks. Mike pulled him into a hug. "It's okay, Donny. It's okay." Mike's voice was gentle, soothing.

Don choked on his own words, "I can't… hold it… together. I'm so… tired."

Mike smiled at him. "Don, you're not a superhero. Raph, Splinter and I totally lost it when Leo was gone. You didn't. You kept it together for that whole time. You're due. How many times did you do this for me? How many times to you let Raph tear your head off?"

Leo looked between his two youngest brothers and thought about what Raph said. They were the strong ones. The burning in his eyes turned to stinging and then the tears came in huge welling drops. In two big strides he threw himself at them, ending up on top of Donatello. Mikey's arm shifted to grab his back. A second later, he felt Raph's muscled arm wrap around his neck.

Leo felt the grief wrack through Don's body underneath him. He felt Mikey's steady hands, and heard him speaking in low warm tones. He felt Raph's grip on his neck, almost painful.

Leo joined Don in his sobs. He had no idea how long they all sat there, but eventually, Don's sobs quieted and he started coughing. Leo backed up and pulled Don into a sitting position.

Splinter gently turned Don toward him. "My son. I cannot undo what I did, what I asked of you."

Don said quietly, "And you don't want to take back your request either, do you?"

Splinter's ears drooped. "No, my son. I admit, I do not."

"What request?" Mike asked looking between them.

Raph said quietly, "Splinter asked Donny to help to… to…" then he broken off.

Leo tried, "He wants Donny to…" Leo too couldn't find the words.

Don looked to Mikey and said, "Splinter asked me to help him die without pain and with dignity."

Mike looked a bit horrified, but before he could say anything, Don held up his hand.

"I gave my word sensei. I'll stick to my word. I will act as you bade me. But I will not make the decision alone. I will not act unless all of us agree."

"Agreed," Leo said forcefully. "You can't carry that all by yourself."

There was a huge crack and then the lair abruptly went dark. The only light was from a candle, flickering on Splinter's table.

"Crap," Don sighed. He extracted himself from the middle of the turtle pile, with some help from Leo.

Raph extended his hand and pulled Don to his feet. "Come on genius, let's go fix the generator."

"Mikey, could you get a couple of flashlights," Don asked as he got unsteadily to his feet.

"Sure thing," Mike said bounding into the dark.

A few minutes later, all four turtles gathered around the generator. It was mostly silent, just with some mutterings from Don and a few questions from Raph.

"What the?" Don said. He spun on his heel and tossed the flashlight to Raph. "Check me."

Raph caught the flashlight in his left hand and spun in twice before focusing the light on the generator. He scanned it looking for anything that seemed off.

"Looks fine to me," Raph said, looking back to Don.

"That's my point." Don said. "Nothing looks wrong."

Don reached down and flipped a switch. The lights flipped on and a hum of power filled the room.

"Excellent," Mike said. "Back to the movie."

"Nice work guys," Leo said, clapping Don on the back.

But Don and Raph stared at each other, their faces mirroring both shock. Something about the look they shared made Leo feel uneasy.

"Why?" Raph asked.

"A power surge?" Don asked back.

"No way. That would have fried it," Raph said.

They were both silent for a minute.

"There only one other thing that even comes to mind," Don said slowly.

"What," Raph asked

"EMP."

Raph looked confused.

Don continued, "An electromagnetic pulse. It's a fluctuation in the magnetic field. It can knock out power sources."

"That doesn't terrible," Leo said.

"In itself, no. But the usual way to generate an EMP is through a nuclear explosion," Don said. rubbing his forehead.

There was another crack, and the power flipped off again, descending them into blackness.

"Nuclear, like World War 2, destroy all of New York kind of explosion?" Mike asked.

"Yeah," Don said. "That."

Leo felt like he was floating. "Do we have a contingency plan for something like that?"

"A contingency plan? For a nuclear attack?" Don asked.

"Yeah," Leo said.

"Die?" Don said.

"Donny," Leo sighed. "Come on."

"What?" Don voice was pitched in annoyance. "You think have I a plan for every possible cataclysmic event? Sorry I don't."

"I don't want to die," Mike said, half shrieking. "I'm too young to die."

"Shut it Mikey," Raph said. "What do we do?"

"There isn't anything to do," Don said. "The only thing I've heard is that the best place to be in a nuclear attack is right at the center, so your death is instantaneous, rather than the slow drawn out affair it would be if you lived through it."

"Donatello," Leo said, his voice like a blade's edge, "Give me something constructive. What do we do if New York just got bombed? How do we deal with something like this?"

Don sighed, "If New York was bombed we would have felt something. There was no vibration, none at all."

"And that means," Raph prompted.

"We don't know if the city has been bombed. We have no idea what's going on," Don said. "All we know is that something is knocking out our generator. And I can't keep cold starting it like this. It'll get fried."

"If there was a nuclear attack, would it be safe to go to the surface?" Leo asked.

"No," Don said. "But you're sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't. There would be less radiation under the ground, because of the concrete, but if there was a nuclear attack, it wouldn't matter where we are, we're dead."

"Don," Leo said, gritting his teeth. "Give me a straight answer. Could we safely send someone to the surface to see what's going on?"

There was a hesitation, and then Don said, "Define safely?"

"Donatello," Leo said, a hard edge in his voice.

"Yes," Don said, with resignation. "Just make it fast. Take breathing masks."

"Mike, you're with me," Leo said. "Take Don's flashlight and get some safety equipment. I'll meet you at the door in 2 minutes."

"But," Mike squeaked.

"Now," Leo said, calmly.

Mike left, muttering.

"Raph," Leo said turning in Raph's direction. "I want you to stay here, but stay sharp. I've got a really strange feeling about this one and I want Don and Splinter protected."

Raph regarded him, the flashlight showing only his chin. "Yeah, okay," Raph said. "But be careful."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Mike was dressed in sweatpants, a huge oversized hoody, and the breathing masks that Don had made for them. He doggedly followed Leo through the sewer, half cursing himself to his bad luck. Why did he always get picked for these jobs? The crummy, dangerous, someone is going to get hurt jobs.

They walked to the nearest sewer grate, a few blocks away. Leo climbed the ladder and pushed the cover off with his right hand. The cover pushed up and then suddenly Leo screamed.

"What's wrong?" Mike nearly yelled.

"My hand," Leo yelped, "It just froze."

"Nuclear winter?" Mike squeeked.

"Not that kind of frozen. I can't move it. It feels like it got stuck in concrete. In fact…" Leo said puzzled. He cautiously moved his feet off the ladder, and he dangled in thin air, held up by his frozen hand.

"Whoa," Mike said walking a complete circle around him.

Then there was the sound of a large crack and Leo's abruptly fell. He gracefully turned, landing on the ground in a catlike crouch. He stood up quickly and looked at his hand. He flexed his fingers and spun his wrist.

"Are you okay," Mike asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Leo said. "That was weird."

"What happened?"

"As soon as I got my hand above the ground, it stopped working. It was totally frozen. Then when we heard the crack, I fell."

"So it's over?" Mike asked.

"I guess. Let's try again," Leo suggested.

Mike grandly gestured to the ladder, and let Leo climb up before him.

Leo reached the alley in apparent safety, so Mike took a deep breath and followed him up, taking a deep breath before leaving the haven of the sewer.

It was about noon and the sun was high in the sky, above the building line. Even though he was mostly disguised, and wore a breathing mask, Mike felt uneasy. He quickly replaced the cover and darted behind a dumpster where Leo stood, his eyes peering over the top of it.

Hidden again, Mike took in his surrounding more closely. The buildings looked fine. If there had been an explosion, it hadn't happened here. In fact, as Mike's eyes roomed the skies, he saw nothing to indict even a fire anywhere. The sky was filled with puffy white clouds, not a single black cloud or smoke trail could be seen anywhere.

Something nagged him. Something was off. And then it clicked. He whispered to Leo, "It's way quiet dude."

Leo nodded. "Yeah. We're going to have to dare the street."

Leo left his spot behind the dumpster and went to the mouth of the alley. He slouched against the building. He pulled off his mask and thrust it into the pocket of his jacket. Mike followed suit. He leaned against the same building, around the other side so that he could see a different direction.

The silence pressed on him like a living thing. It made the skin along his neck crawl. There were cars on the street, but they were empty, their motor's silenced. A bike stood eerily upright on the sidewalk across the street, sans a rider. The building's were all dark. Neon signs were dead. There was no power anywhere. The sprawling city was a literal ghost town.

Mike felt his hands start to shake. He whispered to Leo, "This is freakier than an exorcist marathon."

Leo nodded, but didn't say anything. He took another couple of glances around and then said, "I think we need to get out of here."

"Yeah, dude, I'm with you there."

Mike headed back to the manhole at a half jog. He had the cover off and was just setting it to the side when there was a another crack. Abruptly the noise turned back on. Honks, the hum of motors, fans, the rush of airplanes, all came back in a wave. It made Mike stagger backwards.

Leo turned back to the street where they had just left. It was filled with people and traffic. "Let's get out of here, Mikey."

Mike didn't argue, he sprang into the hole, jumping down the eight feet, rather then bothering with the ladder.

After Leo joined him, replacing the cover, he said, "That was strange."

"Strange? That was the number 1 weirdo thing I've ever seen."

On there way back to the lair, there were more loud cracks. Every single one made him shrudder.

When they reached home, they found the door off the hinges.

"No!" Leo yelled. "Raph? Don?"

"Leo!" he heard Raph call. "We could use a little help here."

Mike rushed in behind Leo to find Raph, Splinter, and Don encircled by several somethings that whipped around like a speeding train. Whatever they were, they looked dark brown, black maybe, blurred and seemed to move totally randomly. Splinter was lying on the floor between Don and Raph, and the two brother circled around to protect him.

"Ahh," Don yelled and flinched back.

Mike saw a couple of cuts appear on his arm like magic.

"Leo," Raph called more desperately.

"Mike, circle around behind," Leo said, rushing into the fray.

Mike watched long enough to see Leo to hit the wall of movement and be thrown back 15 feet.

"That's not going to work," Don said. "They're moving too fast."

Inspiration flashed in Mike's brain. "Hang on bro, I'm going in."

Mike backed up a few steps, did a perfect back hand spring and leapt over the moving things and landed, more or less, on top of Don. Don collapsed under the weight, and crashed to the floor.

"Nice landing," Raph snickered from above him.

"Shut up, Raph," Mike said, finding his feet. As he pulled Don back up, he said, "Sorry dude."

Raph hauled Splinter to into his arms and then drapped him as carefully as he could over Mike's back.

"Turtle launch on three," Raph said.

Don gave him a half hearted look and then nodded, crouching down across from him. Mike stepped into Raph's and Don's cupped hands. Leo, rubbing the back of his head, returned to the circle.

"Leo," Raph called. "Catch! One… two… Three."

On three Raph and Don both pushed up as hard as they could, sending Mike and Splinter into the air. They cleared the wall of motion, but just barely. Leo caught Mike in bear hug before he could stumble forward with Splinter's weight. The old rat groaned in pain as they landed. Leo helped him off Mike's back and put him carefully in a chair.

"Now what?" Mike asked to the group.

Raph grunted in pain and fell to one leg. "Dammit, it got me."

"What are they?" Leo asked.

"Our best guess," Don said, "they're dogs."

"That's a dog?" Mike asked incredulously.

"Three hyper-sped up dogs," Don corrected. "That knocked down a solid steel door."

"What do we do?" Mike asked again.

"I have an idea," Don said. "If I could get out of here."

"Raph? Can you get him out?"

"It'd be better with two," Raph said.

"I'll do it," Mike said, looking over to Leo. "One Donny express coming up."

This time, Mike took a running leap off the couch, did a mid air summersault, and landed neatly between his two brothers. He and Raph knelt down on either side of Don.

"You ready Don?" Raph asked.

Don nodded, a little pale. He stepped into their cupped hands. On three they launched him into the air. Don managed to pull himself into a tight ball and he did a complete flip before landing, a bit hard, into Leo on the other side.

He wasted no time. As soon as he was upright, Don rushed into his lab. He returned a minute later with jumper cables and a car battery.

Don hooked up the cables to the battery and touched the two ends together. A shower of sparks lit up the room. Don gave Leo one end of the cable and had him hold toward the edge of the field.

"You are completely insane," Raph roared. "You're going to get us all killed."

"Maybe someday, Raph," Don said. Then he took his end of the cable and thrust into the crazy movement. In a brilliant flash of white, the electricity arched across to Leo's cable. The movement abruptly stopped. Not one, not two, but seven dogs appeared in their living room.

"But not today," Don finished as a dog darted around Raph to fight with one it's fellows across the room.

It took a few minutes, but they were able to get the dogs out of their house.

"What happened?" Leo asked sitting down on the couch, after Don and Raph, mostly Raph, had put the door back on its hinges.

"They literally busted through the door," Raph said. "They ran through into Splinter's room and were crawling all over him. Me and Don got him out of the room, and eventually the followed us out here. We thought they were dogs cause we could sort of hear um growling, you know?"

"How did they get so juiced up?" Mike asked.

"Those cracks," Don said. "They came in here just after one of them."

"How did you know to do that electricity thing?" Leo asked.

Don shrugged, "Just an educated guess. Those cracks are making the generator go all wacky, so it's messing with magnetic fields. I thought creating a new magnetic field, inside the one the one they were in, would do something."

"You got lucky," Raph said. "You could a electrocuted Leo."

Mike waited for Don's comment filled with science mumbo jumbo that no one else understood. In other words, he was waiting for Don to tell Raph off. But he didn't.

Mike looked over and saw that Don had sunk low into the chair. His head rested against the back and his eyes were closed.

Raph, sitting nearest to him, reached out and shook his shoulder. "Yo, Donny. You could of fried Leo."

Don's eyes blearily opened for a half second, "Hmm?"

"Donny!" Raph said shaking him harder.

"Forget it Raph," Leo said, standing up. "It worked. The more important question is what do we do now? There's a big part of me that says head for the farm."

Mike's stomach turned. That wasn't a good idea.

Raph was waving his hand in front of Don's face. Don didn't flinch, didn't move. He looked unconscious, not asleep. Leo disappeared into Don's lab and then returned with a first aid kit. Leo sat on the coffee table across from Raph and poured alcohol onto a pad. He handed to Raph, who started to clean the bite on Don's arm. Don for his part didn't even flinch.

Finally after Leo had cleaned and bandaged Raph's leg, Raph said, "Yeah, I'm with you Fearless. Let's get out of here."

The squirming in Mike's stomach finally let loose, "Guys we can't leave. We all know that this has to do to with the purple dragons. We're the only ones who can do anything to stop them."

"What can we do?" Leo asked, levelly, turning to face him.

The tone surprised Mike. Leo wasn't expressing his hopelessness, which Mike had expected. He was literally asking Mike what they could do. He wanted to know Mike's opinion. Briefly Mike wondered the last time that had happened.

"You have a plan, an idea?" Leo prompted.

"No," Mike was forced to concede.

"Look," Leo said, his brown eyes empathic, "I know how you're feeling. I feel it too. We'd be leaving the city in the midst of a disaster. But I'm out of options. The guy that I count on for answers can barely walk across the room, much less fight."

"And he ain't thinking straight either," Raph said.

"I heard that," Don said, wearily.

"Why is that you can only hear Raph's voice when you're asleep," Leo asked him.

He got no response.

"Donny," Raph said. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Don said, snuggling deeper into the chair. Then he cracked his eyes open. "You hurt?" Don said. His eyes didn't focus and they fell immediately back closed.

"Donny," Mike said, "I just smashed your laptop."

Nothing.

"Raph," Leo said. "Ask him what up with those cracks."

"Yo Donny," Raph said. "What with those loud cracks."

Don answered with no indication he was awake, "The noise is caused by a rapid heating of the air. Like thunder."

"Except there wasn't lightening dumbass," Raph said.

"No, but something else could have caused it," Don said.

"Like what?" Leo asked.

Nothing.

"Like what?" Raph repeated.

"The dogs seemed out of phase with time. Mike thought he saw the thugs at the Purple Dragon warehouse totally running around like that. If they found technology at Winter's place, maybe they found a way to mess with time."

"Say what?" Raph muttered.

Don repeated, "They found a way to mess with time. Einstein said in his paper regarding special relativity that time shouldn't be considered a constant. The speed of light is constant, time isn't. A person who watched a light beam in a train that was moving would see the light beam bounce off the ceiling and back to the floor in a straight line. A person watching from an embankment outside the train would see it moving at an angle. That means the person in the train would see the beam of light moving a shorter distance and time than the person on the embankment, which means…"

"You're giving me headache genius," Raph said. "Get to the point."

"Time is relative," Don said. "It's not fixed. It depends on your frame of reference."

"About the dogs, Don. The dogs," Raph ordered.

"They were out of phase with the normal time. The time that we observe on Earth because of how the Earth is moving."

"That fits," Leo said. "That would explain what Mike and I saw on the surface."

"And why those guys at Hun's were moving so fast," Mike agreed. "It's almost as weird as Don only hearing Raph's voice."

"Donny," Raph said. "Can't you hear Mikey and Leo."

"They're here?" Don asked, sound sleepily curious.

"Yeah, you nerd. But you're only listening to me."

"I got to make sure you aren't hurt," Don mumbled. "I always wake up when I hear you come in. Oh and Raph?" Don said, his voice weak.

"What?" Raph answered.

"I think one of those dogs was wearing tracking device."

"What?" Raph nearly yelped.

"They were sent to find us," Don said, his eyes still closed.

"Why didn't you say something before?"

"I didn't see it until now."

"What the hell does that mean?" Raph said.

"I can see the dogs in my head. One of them had a device on it's chest, between it's front legs."

"We have to get out of here," Leo said, jumping up, just as another loud crack issued from above. "We're in trouble."

The floor shook and the door flew inward, crashing onto the floor with a deafening boom.

Splinter moaned from his place on the chair. Mike and Raph sprang to their feet, and joined Leo between the door and Splinter. Don managed to stagger to his feet. He joined his brothers just as Hun and 20 kids stepped calmly into the room. The group held a variety of weapons, including a few guns and a few that looked alien.

"Kill them all," Hun said.

* * *

_a/n: This will get finished now... I hope... _


End file.
